Of Raindrops, Flowers, & Wishing Wells
by PottedLilies
Summary: Lily and James.  This is the story of how the famous couple came to be, and how they and their friends found hope, camaraderie, and love as the first shots of war rang in their ears and tore their world apart. Full Summary Inside. REWRITTEN.
1. Potter and Evans

_**Of Raindrops, Flowers, and Wishing Wells  
**_– _**Matters of Head and Heart –  
**__**By PottedLilies**_

**This story is dedicated to **_**pinkpearl89, Queenie's Broken Heart **_**(thanks for staying with me longer than anyone else!),**_** hpdreamer500, ivyflightislistening, StaceyGibbly, UndercoverHufflepuff, Kmonae, Marteczka's Quill, SecretlyAGryffindor, -the smell of autumn-, MessrsMWPP, raneonthewyndoepain, Claire Lafleur, **_**and**_** Loona22**_**. You all stuck with me for so long (years in some cases!) and I owe all of you so much. You are the **_**best freaking reviewers**_** any author could ever hope to have and I am so blessed to have had you as a part of this adventure. Thanks for making it all more magical.**

**FULL SUMMARY: **_CANON. He had been a bully since the day they met, nothing more, nothing less, and Lily Evans had always hated him for that. But beginning in their Fifth Year, James Potter slowly but surely grew up into the man that the world came to know him as—brave, strong, loyal, and above all else, in love. Lily watched those changes as they came and eventually found herself closer to James than she ever thought she would be. Finally in their Seventh Year, she made the choice that would change the world. One day she said 'yes.' This is that story, of how the famous couple came to be, and how they and their friends found hope, camaraderie, and love as the first shots of war rang in their ears and tore their world apart._

_**Rated M for violence, character death, mild language, rape/abuse, and sexual themes – but there is nothing too graphic in any of the cases.**_

**Disclaimer: Lily Evans, James Potter and all related characters belong to J. K. Rowling. This is written for entertainment purposes only. Everything you recognize is JKR's, while OCs are entirely my own creation. The quotes at the beginning and end are not mine unless otherwise stated; I will try to credit them as best as I can.**

_Long live the walls we crashed through__, how__ the kingdom lights shine just for me and you.__  
__I was screaming long live all the magic we made__, a__nd bring on all the pretenders__—I'm__ not afraid.__  
__**Long live all the mountains we moved**__**. **__**I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you.**_  
_I was screaming long live the look on your face__, a__nd bring on all the pretenders.__  
__One day we will be remembered.  
_— _Taylor Swift, Long Live_

**Chapter One: Potter and Evans  
****(September 1, 1975)**

Over the course of a too-short lifetime, Lily Evans and James Potter each accomplished more than most witches and wizards who lived long lives could ever claim to have achieved.

She made a friend that defied all odds.

He went against all odds to help a friend.

She changed everything about herself for the sake of her family.

He changed for her.

She helped another battle the government for rights due years before.

He refused an offer too good to be true from the same system.

She trusted blindly, for better and worse.

He forgave an enemy, for better, and a friend, for more than that.

She fought evil men, and sometimes, she won.

He rescued her when she didn't.

They saved the lives of friends and enemies alike in ways too numerous to count, and became the foundation and the definition of the phrase _there are all kinds of courage_.

But their greatest accomplishment was something far less extravagant. It was not something that anyone would build a monument to or write about in the papers when all was said and done, yet, once all of the glitter of heroism had washed away, this simple thing would be what they were remembered for, always. It was the great story they left behind in the hearts of those that they encountered throughout their lives.

This, above all else—they fell in love.

* * *

_The Adventure_

* * *

Her cold, bare feet dragged in the grey sand as she swung back and forth in the swing. The wood beam above creaked in protest at the weight, as though it had not been used in many years, and the chains reeked of rust and mildew.

It was, like everything else in the small industrial town (ironically named Lantern City), in desperate need of repair, but the landlords that owned most of the area around the old factory had never seen fit to waste money on something the children would not use. Few people went outside at all due to the thick smog that hung in the air like a dark, suppressive cloud, and those that did hurried from one place to the next, shielding their faces and never stopping to speak with anyone.

The only residents of the town were those who worked in the factory, and over time, they had taken on the filthy, grey look that had seeped into the small brick houses and stamped out any amount of color there once was. Their faces were ashy; their hair was somewhere between grey and mousy brown and hung limp about their thin, sallow faces; their eyes were flat and pale, and no longer told the million little stories that most eyes can convey.

She looked up suddenly when she heard the sound of feet on the cobblestone street, and saw a man in the dusty, grey uniform that all of the factory workers wore. His salt-and-pepper hair looked out of place on such a young man, but the shadows of lines forming on his brow told her what she already knew—work at the factory aged people far too quickly, drained them much too soon.

He caught sight of her sitting in the swing and seemed unable to look away, like he was suddenly a child brought into a toy store for the first time and astounded by the innumerable colors and sounds. She blushed and turned her head, and the man kept walking, but she could feel his eyes on her as he made his way down Spinner's End and turned onto Factory Way.

Her mother had once described her as the stained glass windows in a dreary old church, and while the once-beautiful windows in the church at the end of the road had long-since been boarded up, the girl could understand the analogy. Perhaps, had she lived in the little town year-round, she would have faded, too, but she attended school far away, and as such, had maintained her vibrant color.

Her skin was pale, but not in the sickly way that most in the town had, and accented with freckles. Many girls her age hated their freckles, but she was able to see them as just one more part of the spectrum. Cracked pink lips framed her wide mouth, which was full of too-big teeth that all showed when she smiled, and her shockingly green eyes were almond-shaped and surrounded by thick dark red lashes. But easily the feature that stood out the most was the long, red-bronze hair that curled softly and thickly down her back.

She had, however, inherited the rail-thin figure that was common in the townspeople, though while at school she was able to gain a small amount of weight. She always appeared too thin to truly be healthy. During her time at home, she seemed to absorb the smell of smoke from the factory until she could not get it out of her skin for weeks into the school year.

She coughed, the smog getting into her lungs and affecting her breathing, but still she sat in the swing. She was waiting for him_. _

_She and him_—an unlikely pair that was misunderstood wherever they went. While at home, the locals assumed that they would be yet another marriage of convenience, as so many were, and at school, people thought of their friendship as impractical, impossible even.

He was supposed to be there, and the only reason she could imagine that he would be late would be that his father, who was far too fond of liquor, had been rampaging drunkenly about and hurt him or his pacifistic mother.

As soon as the thought of her friend in trouble crossed her mind, she was on her feet, but a second set of footsteps interrupted her.

"Lily!" her mother called in a weary yet commanding voice. "Lily, come home, you have to leave for the station!"

Flora Evans, like the rest of the townspeople, was thin and wiry, with flyaway hair that had already lost its color, though she had barely hit forty years of age. She was dressed for work, in the same non-descript factory uniform that everyone wore, and dark bags hung under her once-bright eyes. She had a straight, pointed nose that she had passed down to both of her daughters, and a long neck that seemed far too elegant for a lowly factory worker.

Lily glanced at her watch and felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. It was much later than she thought, for the haze paled the late-morning sunlight into little more than dawn.

"I'm coming, Mum," she answered, flinging herself from the swing with too much force and flying into the air, but some magic seemed to hang there still, because it caught her and set her lightly on her feet. "Is Dad still at the house?"

"Yes," said her mother as Lily ran up to her. "He's trying to wake your sister."

The redheaded girl snorted, and it sounded deafening in the quiet street. "Why bother? She doesn't want to see me; this is probably her favorite day of the year."

Petunia Evans, Lily's older sister by two years, was seventeen and selfish—and selfish was not a word often used to describe the inhabitants of the industrial town. But the Evans girls liked to break the mold, it would seem.

The greed Lily could have lived with, just as Petunia put up with Lily's limitless curiosity and complete disregard for boundaries—personal or otherwise—but the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back had nothing to do with either sisters' flaws of character. What shattered their relationship beyond repair was Lily's acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry some years prior.

Petunia had always been the star student of the family. She was well-behaved in school and made top marks in all of her classes, while Lily had frequently let her own imagination get the better of her and found that more often than not she turned in doodles and poems rather than assignments.

Once Lily went to Hogwarts, she was able to escape the grey that surrounded them and explore a whole new world, so explore she did. Classes were the last thing on her mind when suddenly she was living in a castle, so when Professor McGonagall sent a letter to Lily's parents saying that she was doing poorly in lessons, Petunia was absolutely livid. She had felt that she could do far better were she just able to go, though the Headmaster had personally told her that it was impossible.

After that, Petunia had started slipping. She had fallen in with the bad crowd at the small public school and gotten into things that she should never have become involved with. Years later, she would blame those mistakes on Lily, but while she was seventeen and selfish, all she could see was that the worse she was, the more attention she received.

So Lily, since unselfishness was the nature of most of the townspeople, had decided to play the role of the good student, not so that her parents would be more proud of her, but so they would have _someone_ to be proud of if Petunia lost all sense of herself.

Flora Evans gave an exhausted sigh and looked with tired eyes to the chimney that towered over the cramped houses. "Neither of you are right in this," she told her daughter honestly. "She's wrong to be jealous of you, and you're wrong to goad her on."

"Mum, I don't –" Lily began, but she was cut off.

"You do." It was a statement, indisputable. "When she makes you angry enough you find little ways to gloat. And both of you are wrong."

Lily huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, blinking fiercely as the smog made her eyes water. "Fine, maybe you're right. But it's her own fault for hating me in the first place."

Her mother looked as though she wanted to argue, but an old bell rang from the factory, signaling the start of the day for the workers, so instead, she smiled and said, "Good luck this year, sweetie, you'll be fine. And be sure to write! You know that your father and I love to hear about everything that happens at school—especially these new Prefect duties of yours! We're both so proud."

Flora wrapped Lily in a tight, brief hug and let go.

"Bye, Mum," Lily told her as they started in opposite directions, one for the factory and one for the little grey brick house, crowded between the others around it. "I'll see you at Christmas. I love you!"

A shaggy grey dog chased a scrawny dust-colored cat from behind the waste bin as Lily ran to her house. She called a quick goodbye to the community pets before throwing open her peeling front door.

"Whoa!"

"Oh, Dad!" Lily exclaimed, the two together easily the loudest thing for miles around, save for the constant hum that emitted from the factory. "I'm sorry! Did I hit you?"

"No, no," Mr. Evans chuckled, patting his daughter's shoulder. He was a tall man. Thin, with broad shoulders that looked slightly out of place, bushy eyebrows, and silver hair. There was always a bit of grey stubble sprouting across his prominent jaw, and his large hands were rough and scarred from years of work. "I heard you coming."

"Oh Godric," Lily swore under her breath as she once more glanced at her watch. "I've really got to run, and you're going to be late, too."

"I know," her father replied, pulling her into a quick hug and planting a kiss on top of her flaming red head. "Your trunk is by the fireplace and that bag of powder is on the mantle. I'll see you come Christmas, all right? I love you."

"Love you too, Dad." She kissed his cheek, and he was out the door.

Standing a trunk on-end and maneuvering it into a tiny fireplace is no easy task, and it was especially difficult with Petunia watching snobbishly down her long, angular nose. But Lily eventually managed, and with a pinch a Floo Powder and the words "Platform Nine and Three Quarters," she was gone, trying not to grin triumphantly back at her sister before she left.

"Ah!" Lily exclaimed as she stumbled out of the fireplace and landed on her back between the cold, hard pavement and her heavy trunk. Grumbling, she heaved the luggage off herself and stood up, all the while trying to absorb the thousand new colors and sounds that assaulted her senses after the dreary scene of Lantern City.

The train, crimson and glistening, emitted white-grey smoke that somehow looked friendlier than anything back home. Hundreds of people flocked the platform, some already wore long, black robes, while others were haphazardly dressed (Lily caught sight of one wizard wearing flippers and an old witch with a feather boa tied around her waist). Students called to their friends over their parents' shoulders, and parents yelled their goodbyes as their children dashed away. Toddlers were crying. Cats were whining. Owls were hooting in their cages.

Just as Lily had brushed the worst of the ash off herself, something tiny and blonde slammed into her side, and tackled her back to the ground.

"Alice?" Lily asked, rubbing her backside and inhaling the expensive perfume that only her best friend had the money to wear. "What did you do to your hair?"

Alice Hinton was a petite girl with light blonde hair that had once been long and lustrous, but since Lily had seen her last, it had been chopped impossibly short, and stuck up all over her head.

"I got tired of dealing with it," Alice explained, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. "Besides, short hair is all the rage in Paris right now! I thought I'd bring Hogwarts a bit of style."

When Lily met Alice back on the first night of their first year, she thought that she had, quite literally, found her polar opposite. With her mother being the Editor-In-Chief of the Wizarding World's most popular fashion magazine, _The Trendy Witch_, Alice was wealthy, well-dressed, and sophisticated, but she was also absolutely full of herself. She had seemed to think that she was somehow above Lily, who had arrived with the dirty look and smoky smell of the industrial town, wearing secondhand robes and the like.

But neither girl was quick to make friends of any sort. Lily was bullied about the smell—people teased her about smoking the bathroom—and she was made fun of for her red hair and freckles, which she had always been proud of before. They made her doubt herself. And then, after Lily decided that she would try to be a good student, they made fun of her for that, too. Alice, on the other hand, was mocked for her snobbishness. She was continuously excluded from group and social events, which, to her, was the worst possible slander.

The two girls always ended up forced to sit by each other in lessons, for there were no other seats available (save for Potions, where Lily sat beside Severus Snape, her best friend from long before school had started), but they still never connected until the end of their first year.

A pair of boys who had been particularly nasty to Lily had thought it would be funny to push her into the old, overgrown ditch on the edge of the Forbidden Forest and leave her there overnight to listen to all of the animals moving about. They thought it would scare her, which of course it did, but they did not count on a group of Slytherins locking Alice out of the castle that very same night. She had been wandering the grounds in search of Hagrid, the gamekeeper, when she had tripped and fallen right into Lily's ditch (Alice became quite clumsy when she was nervous). Needless to say, neither found the other's presence comforting at first, but once darkness fell and the Forest came to life, each was glad that they were not alone.

At the time, Lily had thought that the truce they had formed would be temporary, but she soon learned that some experiences can bring people together in unbreakable ways, and it just so happened that being stuck in a ditch by the woods was one of them.

After Hagrid found them the next morning, the two girls became inseparable, not that anyone else in the school paid them any mind, but they had—very gradually—changed each other for the better. Alice told Lily that she was a prig and that she was trying far too hard to be a good girl. She also taught Lily a few handy fashion tips and a way to get the dusty look out of her skin and the smoky smell from her clothes. Lily, on the other hand, brought Alice down to earth. She explained to the blonde that the reason she had no other friends was simply because she thought herself too good for all of them.

Once they had that heart-to-heart, their housemates began to notice the subtle changes in the girls' personalities, and soon, most found no reason to poke fun at them anymore.

Lily laughed at her best friend and shook her head, pulling out her wand and extracting the grime from her clothing. "If you truly wanted to bring style to Hogwarts, you wouldn't be wearing that shirt. Even _I _know that the Wasps are at the bottom of the League, and I hardly ever read the sports section in _The Daily Prophet_."

Alice glanced down at her yellow and black striped t-shirt with the Wimbourne Wasps emblem emblazoned across the front and crossed her tiny arms defiantly. "I'm loyal through thick and thin, unlike _you_, missy, who just cheers for whichever team is winning."

Lily shrugged as she and Alice lifted her trunk onto a nearby trolley. "But that way you're never disappointed."

"One day," said Alice, winking up a Lily. "You'll find a team that you just love and they are going to be simply terrible. I can't wait for that day."

Once on the train, the two girls pushed their way through the throng of students that crowded the aisle and headed towards a compartment somewhere about halfway along.

"My stuff is already inside," Alice explained when they reached the door. "If you want to bring your trunk in, I'll go find Vanessa."

As soon as Lily nodded, Alice had dashed away, her blonde head disappearing in the crowd. She turned around to open the compartment door when she ran headlong into someone going in the other direction.

"Sev!" Lily exclaimed, relieved to see him alive and well. "Where were you this morning? I was really worried."

Severus Snape was a pale, thin boy with a hooked nose and long black hair that always looked a bit greasy. Many students taunted him for his below-par appearance, but to Lily, he looked like magic.

It had been this boy who had first told her she was a witch, had first introduced her to the world in which she now lived. When she was young, before she entered Hogwarts, his words had seemed like fairytales—so far away, yet ringing with some deep, nearly unreachable truth. It was as though he had brought his own words to life the day he ran to her house and pointed to the owl flying towards them with her first Hogwarts letter.

He smiled when he saw her, an easy smile that lit up his black eyes. "Hi, Lily. Sorry, I should have written you, but my Mum had to bring me early this morning so that she could be home to make breakfast for Dad. He's been sick."

"It's all right," Lily grinned, hugging him briefly. "But can you believe it, Sev? It's already our Fifth year."

Severus nodded, looking around at the people in the hallway. "Time flies."

"Are you looking for someone?" Lily asked, following his eyes. "You can some sit with the girls and me if you want to."

"Thanks, but I told Mulciber I'd sit in his compartment." He was looking at her strangely, as though waiting for a reprimand.

Lily felt her nose automatically wrinkle in disgust at the thought of the dark-complected Slytherin boy with a fondness for curses. However, Severus had never had many friends in his House, so for the moment, Lily decided to say nothing about his choice. He had picked _her_ had he not? Maybe there was more to Byron Mulciber than his reputation suggested.

So she just shrugged noncommittally. "Okay, well, I've got to run. There's a Prefect meeting in a few minutes and I need to put my stuff away."

His face relaxed a bit and he looked down at her proudly. "I told you you'd get the badge."

"Yes, you did," said Lily, rolling her eyes and smiling. "You're brilliant and psychic and I cringe at your powers."

Severus chuckled at her sarcasm and ducked into a compartment to their right. "I'll see you later, then."

"Bye," she responded with a wave.

Alone again, Lily slid open the compartment door and pulled her trunk inside. Alice's belongings were strewn about, taking up almost all the space allotted for luggage, as the petite witch had a tendency to over-pack. Chuckling to herself, Lily attempted to lift her own trunk up onto the rack.

"Oi, Evans!" called someone behind her. "Need a hand with that?"

Lily did not have to turn around to know who it was. "Not from you, Potter, thanks."

"Don't be daft, Evans," he said, and Lily could feel his presence directly behind her as he helped push her trunk into place.

She immediately ducked under his arm and moved to the other side of the room, glaring all the while at James Potter.

He had never been particularly tall, in fact, Lily had always been eye level with him, but it seemed that he had finally hit his growth spurt over the summer, and he had hit it hard. James was much taller than she, but he had the lanky appearance of being stretched out rather than simply growing.

James seemed to notice that she was sizing him up, for he rumpled his already untidy black hair—a habit of his that annoyed Lily to no end—and winked one of his hazel eyes, which were framed by rectangular, wire-rimmed spectacles.

"Like what you see, Evans?"

Lily pursed her lips and rolled her eyes—Potter would never change.

He, like most pureblood wizards, had grown up in an ostentatious manor in the country, with house elves to attend to his every need, and money enough to take care of his every desire. His parents, elderly even by Wizarding standards, had had him late in life, and doted upon him accordingly.

James Potter was as spoiled as they came.

Alice had grown out of her superiority complex early on, but James never had. His favorite pastime was taunting others—for their looks, their intelligence, or simply because the opportunity presented itself. Most students found his antics funny (though some only laughed because they were afraid he would turn on them next or because he was extremely popular on the Quidditch pitch). But Lily never had. She had been one of his primary targets back in first year, and she now despised bullies of any kind.

"Not in the slightest, Potter," she replied, stopping herself from rolling her eyes a second time as a group of girls past by the compartment and gave James looks of interest. "To be honest, I'm surprised those scrawny legs can hold up your fat head."

Lily certainly did not consider herself a vindictive person, but James Potter always managed to bring out the very worst in her.

He had asked her out a total of eighty-seven times in the past four years, and both parties were aware that every single time had been a joke. There were numerous reasons that he did it—because he thought she was a snob, because it annoyed Severus Snape, because it gave him someone to argue with—but mostly, he just liked to take the piss out of people, and she hated it.

"_But_," she continued, indicating to the girls outside. "You might want to try them. They're clearly interested."

James turned around and saw the group of giggling fourth years staring through the compartment window. They blushed when he looked at them, but he winked and they burst into fits of laughter and conversation.

"Look at how tall he's gotten…"

"What happened to his nose?"

"I think it looks really masculine…"

"Can Fifth Years be Quidditch Captains? I bet he got the job…"

Lily snorted and stepped up on the bench to rifle through her trunk, searching for her new Prefect badge.

James _was_ a talented Quidditch player, though a bit too young to be captain. By the time he left Hogwarts, he would be able to play for any team in the League, and that was the only direction he could see his life going—everyone knew that.

He twirled his wand between his fingers for a moment before glancing out into the corridor again. Lily watched as his eyes landed on Archie Jones, a Hufflepuff two years their junior, who was drinking a bottle of water and joking with his friends.

"Hey, Evans, watch this…_Impervius_," James muttered, grinning.

The water refused to leave the bottle as Archie's lips became waterproof, and when the younger boy brought it up to examine it, the water burst out and soaked his face and hair.

"Set him right," Lily ordered, jumping down from the bench and placing her hands on her hips. "There is simply no reason for you to do things like that, Potter."

But he did not seem to hear her, for he was grinning proudly as the students around Archie erupted into laughter.

Lily huffed and pulled out her own wand, which she pointed at the third year and muttered a counter curse and drying charm.

"Nothing wrong with making people laugh, Evans," James told her, sauntering forward and stopping only a foot away from her.

"There's nothing _right_ about doing it at other people's expense," argued Lily, noticing that his glasses were marginally crooked, and that his once-impeccably straight nose seemed to have been broken over the summer—no doubt because of his obsessive Quidditch playing habit. "You're lucky there are such ignorant people in the world, Potter," Lily told him as the students in the hall continued to laugh. "Otherwise you would not be nearly as popular."

"I don't need popularity, Evans," he said with a would-be heart melting grin. "All I need is you."

"_Cute_," Lily told him sarcastically, resuming her search for her badge and extracting a quill and parchment as well for the meeting. "Don't you have somewhere else to be? I have a Prefect meeting soon."

James cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms, a smirk planted firmly on his face. "Prefect, huh? I should have known they'd pick the prig."

Lily gave him a cold look. "Better than the impudent bully."

Before James could respond, a male voice filled the compartment. "_Would all Prefects please report to Compartment Number One? All Prefects to Compartment Number One_."

So with a final glare, Lily gathered up her things and brush past James into the hall.

* * *

_Princes and Frogs_

* * *

James smirked after Lily and followed her out, though he turned the opposite way and headed back to the end of the train, where he entered the last compartment on the left.

The first thing he saw was Sirius Black—who had been his best friend and partner in crime for the last four years—sitting with his feet propped up on the bench across from him and his hands behind his head. Sirius was easily the better looking of the two boys, though James would never give him the satisfaction of admitting it. He had a sort of regal grace about him that James could simply never capture. When the compartment door shut with a snap, Sirius opened his dark grey eyes and grinned in that wolfish way of his.

"Where've you been, mate?" he asked as James took the seat beside him. "We were worried you'd miss the train."

Sure enough, at that very moment, a whistle sounded and the Hogwarts Express lurched forward.

"'Course not," James assured him. "I bumped into Evans. Turns out she's been made Prefect."

"Bloody hell," Sirius groaned, shaking his head. "We'll have to watch ourselves this year with Prefect Prig on our case all the time."

"She's not that bad," piped up Peter Pettigrew, speaking for the first time. "She helped me out in Charms last year, she's the only reason I passed the practical exam."

Peter Pettigrew was Hermes reincarnate. He had the slight figure and pointed features that the Greek god was alleged to have possessed, and was more of a trickster than even Peeves the Poltergeist. He had an all-encompassing sense of humor that drew others to him, and he tried to always speak the best of people unless they truly deserved otherwise.

"You _would_ say that," James commented, amused. Then, to Sirius, "How was your summer, mate? I didn't hear much from you."

His best friend scoffed and blew dark hair from his eyes. "My mum tried to redecorate my room, only to find that nothing would come off the walls. She locked me in there for a few weeks because she thought it'd be a good punishment."

"Was it?" asked Peter, a blonde eyebrow arched above his small blue eyes.

Sirius smirked. "_Punishment_, are you kidding? I got be away from the lot of them for all that time," He leaned back in his seat, a faraway smile on his face. "Couldn't ask for a better summer at Grimmauld Place."

Sirius Black. Gryffindor. Ladies' man. Prankster Extraordinaire. That was all most people ever saw of him, and no one ever expected him to be anything more. However, the people closest to him knew better. They had seen the bruises and heard the Howlers that Sirius had received from his parents ever since he had been sorted into the House of the Brave years earlier. They knew that he dreaded the summer, but suffered in silence, because Sirius Black was not someone who wanted pity.

In a few words, he was boisterous, but brooding, ambitious, but unmotivated, dependable, but impulsive, diplomatic, but utterly tactless. Personality-wise, he was quite ambiguous. And the girls of Hogwarts saw him as a mystery that they thought they would be the one to solve.

None of them would.

By his family, Sirius was expected to marry a pureblooded girl with decent looks and notable ancestral background. By his friends, he was expected to fall for some half-decent slag somewhere down the road and lead a moderately happy life with her. By the female population of Hogwarts, well, each of them expected him to fall for her.

None of them were right.

"What about you, Pete?" Sirius asked, closing his eyes again. "Do anything exciting this summer?"

"Nothing in particular," Peter answered leisurely. "My mum was with the neighbors most of the time. They're Muggles, and they've got a son with one of those diseases that they don't know how to cure, so she's been bringing him soup and slipping Healing potions into it. So I was alone and I mostly read up on…" he glanced at the door to make sure no one was listening-in. "Animagi. There were some really interesting techniques we haven't tried yet."

Peter Pettigrew was brilliant at magic.

In theory.

He excelled in History and Astronomy and was decent in Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures, but when it came to actually performing spells, he seemed to have some sort of block. He did not know the reason, for none of his friends seemed to have any problems with magic on the whole, but they helped him out as best they could, so he never complained.

"Excellent," said Sirius.

"The next full moon is on the twentieth," James informed them. "If we work every night, maybe we can make it. I know I'm getting really close."

Peter nodded in agreement. "And as soon as we do that, we can really get to working on the map."

Sirius and James grinned at him, all three boys hoping for their most exciting year yet.

And, let the record show, it would be just that.

* * *

_Heroes and Thieves_

* * *

Remus Lupin doodled absentmindedly in his notebook as he waited for the Prefect meeting to begin, and he jumped slightly when someone sat down hard in the seat beside him.

"Lily?" he asked, looking up to see flaming red hair and familiar green eyes that flashed slightly as she looked around. "Something wrong?"

"Just Potter being an idiot," she answered, blowing her bangs from her face. "He's already being an arsehole to the younger students, and he hasn't forgotten the 'I love Lily' joke yet."

"James loves to get a rise out of people, and you're someone who will give that to him. As long as you react to his jokes, he'll continue to take the mickey out of you."

"I know," Lily replied with a huff, pulling out her parchment and setting it on her lap. "But it's hard not to get angry with him, especially when he mistreats the underclassmen. I know what's it's like for James Potter to make the early years hell, and I don't want that to happen to other people."

"I'll try to talk to him," Remus promised her, for he was her friend as well as James'. "Perhaps he'll make an attempt at maturity this year."

Lily's snort of disbelief was drown out as Quinn Matthews, the Head Girl, called for everyone's attention and began the meeting.

Quinn was a short girl, with curly black hair and a button nose, horn-rimmed spectacles perched on the tip. She was capable and kind, though not necessarily the leaderly type, which was where her partner, Gideon Prewett, came in.

Gideon was a giant, six foot eight with fiery red hair and crystal blue eyes. He had freckles head-to-toe and a crooked smile that could make Grindelwald himself feel like all was well with the world. His presence was commanding and comforting at the same time, and with him in the room, everyone felt at peace. He was one of those the people—the one that everyone called a friend and considered an ally. He was a confidant to those who needed a listening ear, a companion to the bored and lonely, a brother, defender, and peace-keeper all wrapped up in a single soul.

Both the Head Boy and Girl were organized and timely. Quinn was action-oriented, while Gideon preferred to take time to think about his options. He had a suppressed creative talent, and Quinn had a knack for bringing out the talents in others.

The two were a perfect team.

"Welcome to the new Prefects," said Quinn, grinning and pushing her glasses up on her nose. "And welcome back to the old. We'll start with the basics."

"First," began Gideon, smiling warmly around the room. "We have a list of every school rule Hogwarts has for each group of prefects." He pulled thick rolls of parchment crammed with miniscule handwriting out of a bag and passed them around as he continued. "I don't expect you to memorize them all overnight, but read over them in your spare time and try to get a feel for things. I'm sure you all can judge what's right and wrong and act on it, or you wouldn't be here."

"Second," Quinn went on, shuffling a much lighter stack of paper. "These are your patrol schedules. Two pairs patrol every night, one from nine to ten, and the second from ten to eleven. Gideon and I take the eleven to twelve shift every night."

"Patrols are pretty easy," said Gideon, speaking mostly to the new prefects. "All you have to do is walk through the halls and make sure no one is out of their Common Rooms without a note or a medical emergency. You check the empty classrooms and broom cupboards for students who are…" as he trailed off, his ears turned red, matching his flaming hair.

"Up to no good," Quinn finished for him, eyeing a few of the Slytherins sitting in the back of the compartment. "You can take off points, unless they are fellow prefects, and give detentions as you see fit, but everything you do must be recorded on a special form that you can find in the Head's Dorm, which we will show you sometime tomorrow."

"The next thing we need to discuss," continued Gideon, "is Filch's list of Forbidden items. We've been asked to read it too you." Quinn sighed in distaste. "So here it goes…"

Remus tuned them out, knowing full well that more than half of what was on that list would find its way into his dormitory by the end of the week. It was simply unavoidable with James, Sirius, and Peter as his best friends. Instead, he took the time to examine the other prefects in his year.

There were Amos Diggory and Shay Fagan from Hufflepuff, which was not surprising, since the two of them were their House's top students. Sitting in front of them with their clipboards out and quills scratching fervently were Olivia Montague and Edgar Bones from Ravenclaw. Constance Malfoy—a cousin of Lucius' with the white-blonde hair and grey eyes to prove it—and Darius Selwyn sat in the very back of the room with the older Slytherin prefects. Constance popped her gum loudly and tossed her long hair over her shoulder, looking like the epitome of boredom. The towering Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the sixth-year Gryffindor Prefects, sat just in front of Remus and Lily with his partner, the short and squat Ellie Smith, and on Ellie's other side was Anita Turnpin, the only Seventh Year Gryffindor, since Gideon was made Head Boy.

Together, they were, allegedly, Hogwarts' best and brightest.

Remus sighed tiredly as he ran a hand through his golden brown hair and found a few greys left in his palm. There had been more of them than usual since the last full moon, and the fifteen-year-old hoped that no one would notice.

Remus Lupin was a werewolf, though the only people aware of this fact were James, Sirius, Peter, and a few of the teachers. He had been bitten by Fenrir Greyback (a man who chose to embrace his wolfishness rather than try to separate himself from it) when he was a small child because the older werewolf was seeking revenge on Remus' father, John Lupin, though Remus had never been told what his father had done to offend Fenrir in such a way. This was due, in part, to the fact that his father had left soon after the incident. He had said that he would go abroad to see if other countries had found a cure, but that had been years before and he had never returned.

Yet, Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, was a trusting and generous man who was always ready to expect the very best in people, so he had allowed Remus to attend school. The only condition involved was that each full moon, Remus would take a secret passage under the Whomping Willow (a tree with a penchant for walloping those who came too close), and transform in the Shrieking Shack—away from the students of Hogwarts.

No one ever guessed, except for his three closest friends, but Remus was always frightened that someone would see through his thin excuses of his mother's failing health as his reason for disappearing once a month, and the scars that formed all over his body as the years progressed would surely be a dead-giveaway soon enough.

Aside from the scars, Remus was a naturally handsome fellow, with a strong jaw and piercing eyes the color of copper. He was tall and thin, but it suited him, and the veins in his arms protruded sharply whenever they were strained.

In spite of his animalistic side (or, perhaps, because of it), Remus was a wonderful person. He was overly helpful and exceedingly generous, as though he felt he somehow needed to make up for his monthly transformations. He was brave, more-so than most, but he also knew how to choose his battles, and rarely threw a punch without first thinking it through.

However, Remus had a difficult time trusting others, for he was always afraid that they would learn his secret and reject him, or should they remain his friend, he was terrified of hurting them in some way.

The girls of Hogwarts saw Sirius Black as the tragedy and the mystery, but looking closer, Remus certainly gave him a run for his money.

"…And Whizzing Worms," concluded Gideon, rolling the long list back up.

"I guess that's everything, then," said Quinn, gathering up her things. "Just remember to round up all of the new first years and show them to your dormitories. Try to make them feel at home; the first night is always a bit scary."

"We'll give you the passwords to your Common Rooms on your way out with your patrol schedules. Don't forget, Fifth years, to meet us in the Great Hall tomorrow after dinner so we can show you the Heads' Dorm and the Prefects' bathrooms," Gideon finished. "Thanks, everyone."

One they were out in the hall again, Remus and Lily breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.

"Well, that was possibly more boring than History of Magic," Lily observed, scanning the sheet of parchment she had been handed. "And_ that_ is saying something."

Remus chuckled, looking over her shoulder. "If that's what being a Prefect is like, I think I'll just resign now. And look! We get to patrol Saturday night. Brilliant."

"At least we can sleep in on Sunday," Lily told him, grinning. "Constance and Selwyn got the late shift Sunday night, and they'll have to be up early Monday for classes."

The two Gryffindors laughed together as they squeezed through the crowded train and made their way to their compartments.

"Anyway," Lily went on. "I'm glad I'm not you."

Remus lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I would hate to be a Prefect and have Potter, Black, and Peter for mates. That's got to put you in a bit of a sticky situation."

Remus grinned slyly and slid Lily's compartment door open for her. "They can't be punished if they're never caught."

* * *

"Lily! About time," said a tall brunette, tossing a Caldron Cake at Lily as she entered the compartment. "I was about to have to wrestle Alice to save some of the food for you."

"Were not!" Alice argued, turning up her nose, but when with a look from the brunette, she was forced to cough up two Chocolate Frogs and half a box of Every Flavor Beans.

Lily laughed and plopped down on the bench between them, ripping open the cake first, suddenly ravenous. "Thanks, Ness. I knew I could count on you."

Vanessa Reese was the final member of the trio, a position that she had secured just after Christmas break the term before when she had discovered that Caradoc Dearborn, her boyfriend of a year, had been sneaking around with her previous best friend, Waverly Rivers. Lily and Alice, both knowing what it was like to be a bit of an outcast, had taken her in, and the three girls had been friends ever since.

She winked at Lily and turned her attention to her fingernails, which, as usual, had a layer of dirt stuck beneath them. With ecologists for parents (a wizard father and Muggle mother), Vanessa and her two younger brothers spent most of the summer outdoors, trekking in the woods, looking for animals and plants for the Muggle documentary the Reeses were filming.

"Mmm," Lily moaned, licking the icing from her fingers and closing her eyes in contentment. "I always forget how good the food is here."

"Wait until the feast—" Vanessa began at the same time that Alice let out a loud groan from behind the latest edition of _Which Broomstick_.

"What?" Lily and Vanessa asked together.

"The Wasps play the Kestrels this weekend, and the prediction here is that they're going to get _creamed_," she complained. "It says that the Kestrels invested in the new Nimbus 1700's for the entire team! Those are the best brooms on the market, and the Wasps are still flying the 1001's."

"Really? Let me see!" Vanessa exclaimed excitedly, snatching the magazine away. She quickly scanned the article before jumping up out of her seat. "Yes! This is fantastic! They'll be at the top of the league in no time after this. "

"Oh, shut up, Vanessa," Alice grumbled, pulling out a glossy copy of _The Trendy Witch_ instead.

Vanessa, who had been an avid Kestrels fan since her father had taken her to her first match years before, stuck her tongue out childishly at Alice before sitting down cross-legged on the seat and reading the article more thoroughly.

Lily shook her head in amusement and turn to Alice, nodding to the fashion magazine the little blonde had absorbed herself in. "Haven't you read that by now? I would think that with your Mum being Editor-In-Chief, you would get advance copies."

Alice shrugged, flipping a page absentmindedly. "I do. But Mother threw another one of her parties this weekend, so I didn't have much down time. She sent me all over on errands—the caterers, the florists, the designers, the guests, the whole shebang."

"Oh," was all Lily could say. Sometimes, she felt rather bad for Alice. She and her mother were extremely well-off, but it often seemed that Ms. Hinton never had much time for her daughter.

"So, Lily," Vanessa began, glancing at their blonde friend as she tried to change the subject. "Who's the other Gryffindor prefect?"

"Remus, thank Merlin," Lily told her, sighing with relief. "I'm hoping that maybe he can keep his friends in check this year."

"Ha," Alice snorted, brilliant blue eyes appearing over the magazine. "That's highly unlikely."

"I know," Lily sighed, pulling _Intermediate Transfiguration_ from her duffle bag. She flipped to about halfway through and took out her bookmark, trying to immerse herself in the chapter on Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. "But there's nothing wrong with a little wishful thinking."

* * *

_Crystal Village_

* * *

_Five years ago, the talk began,_

_The darkness was approaching,_

_Evil was waiting in the wings,_

_Prejudice was encroaching_—

Lily's focus on the Sorting Hat was interrupted as she was hit in the side of the head by a grape, which Sirius Black had bought off the food trolley on the train. She gave him a withering look, causing him to grin, and turned back to the Hat.

—_I fear things have since grown worse,_

_A fight might soon commence,_

_So wherever I put you,_

_Unite at all expense—_

Lily pressed her lips together in frustration and tried to ignore Sirius. Years ago, she might have opened her mouth and tried to catch the grapes, but she was a Prefect now, and had to set an example for the younger students. Luckily, one of his shots missed and hit Alice in the back of the head. The little blonde witch spun in her seat and pointed her wand down the table at him, causing him to grudgingly put the grapes away. Sirius had been on the receiving end of Alice's wrath far too many times over the past four years to knowingly cross her.

—_Hufflepuffs, be true and fair,_

_That's where your talent lies,_

_And Ravenclaws, be bright and know,_

_Rivals can be friends in disguise._

_Shrewd Slytherins, the ends don't _

_Always justify the means,_

_Use those cunning minds for goodness, _

_And you're on the winning team._

_And finally, brave Gryffindors, _

_You're strongest when you stand as one,_

_End petty feuds and prideful acts,_

_Or you will be undone._

_Four separate Houses you might be,_

_The bold, the sly, the just, the wise,_

_But you must learn to work together,_

_For through each other you will rise._

The applause was a bit more scattered than normal, and even Sirius and his friends had stopped fooling around to consider what the Sorting Hat had said. There had been hardly any mention of Lord Voldemort, the leader of the five-year rebellion against Muggleborns, in the paper all summer. There had not been anything troubling, actually. All had seemed to be well in the Wizarding World. And even if there had been something wrong, it was unlikely that unity amongst the Houses would change anything in the bigger picture.

Professor McGonagall unrolled her list of students and began to call off names, and the Hat seemed to consider each one for a longer period of time before placing them in their respective Houses, as though it worried it would somehow make a wrong decision.

The Sorting ended as "Young, Stephan" was placed in Ravenclaw and there was a more hearty applause as Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, with a long beard he tucked into his belt and half-moon spectacles, stood from his seat and spread his arms wide to the students. There was a smile on his old, wrinkled face and a twinkle in his bright blue eyes.

"Welcome, each and every one of you, to a new year at Hogwarts," he said slowly, though he old voice still managed to contain surprising energy. "There are many things I wish to say to you, however, now is not the time. Dig in."

There was an outburst of cheers and shouts of excitement as the enormous Welcoming Feast appeared on each of the long House tables.

"_Excellent!_" Lily heard Sirius and James exclaim together, before they half-dove onto the table and devoured everything within reach.

She rolled her eyes as Marlene McKinnon and Adeline Mason, two Gryffindor girls a year below Lily, giggled at the boys, blushing and waving when Sirius winked in their direction.

"Lily, Alice, Vanessa, I didn't see you on the train!" said Mary MacDonald as she and the other Gryffindor fifth-year, Waverly Rivers, moved down the table to join the three girls.

Alice hastily scooted over on the bench to make room for them, elbowing Vanessa in the side as she did so. The brunette glared at Alice briefly before promptly turning back to her food and ignoring all of them.

Waverly bit her full bottom lip, big brown eyes cast downward sadly. She was a pretty girl, half Chinese, half Caucasian, with just the right combination of characteristics, but she always seemed to look younger than she truly was. Of course, that had not stopped Caradoc from cheating on Vanessa with her, but Lily wanted to put the past behind them. After all, the five girls had to live together.

"I was in the Prefects meeting for most of the morning," Lily explained, perhaps a bit too-loudly in an attempt to ease the tension in the air. "They had to read Filch's list of forbidden items, and that took ages."

"You got the badge then?" asked Mary, matching Lily's volume and pushing a stray chestnut curl from her eyes. "I figured you would. Congratulations!"

"Thanks," said Lily. "So did you have a good summer?"

Mary was the only other all-Muggle girl of the five of them, so Lily always counted on her for things outside the Wizarding World. She had short, russet brown hair that curled tightly and close-set, aqua colored eyes. She was a small girl, though not a petite as Alice, and very sweet. Nearly everyone she met adored her.

"Wonderful," she told the redhead. "There was a Shrieking Silence concert in London. Emmeline and I went—it was our first Wizarding concert—and they were _brill._"

"Vanessa went too," said Lily, trying to lure her friend into the conversation. "Shrieking Silence is her favorite band."

"I know!" exclaimed Mary, pushing her curls from her face. "I've been staring at that poster she puts up in the dorm for four years. Agrippa Gibson is even better looking in person!"

"_Isn't _he?" Alice agreed, elbowing Vanessa in the ribs again, but the brunette remained fixated on the peas she was pushing around on her plate. "My mum did a photo shoot with the whole band once for her magazine. All four of them are stunning."

"I have a picture from that shoot on my bedroom wall!" Mary exclaimed. "I saved that whole issue. I _adored_ that part with—"

She was cut off as a grape flew across the room and straight into her mouth.

"What the—?"Mary choked, coughing it up into a napkin.

Alice and Lily simultaneously jerked their thumbs at Sirius, who was laughing hysterically with James, Remus, and Peter. Mary blushed faintly. Like so many of the Hogwarts girls, she carried a bit of a torch for Sirius Black. But currently, Lily knew, she was in a happy relationship with Derek Greene of Ravenclaw.

"Anyway, how's Derek?" Alice asked, winking at Mary and clearly trying to get her talking before the other girl could start pining after Gryffindor's heartthrob again.

The rest of the night went by smoothly, save for the continued silence between Vanessa and Waverly. And finally, as the last of the dessert cleared itself away, Professor Dumbledore stood to speak.

"Once more, welcome," he told the students, his voice ringing throughout the Great Hall. "I would like to remind all of you that the Forest is off-limits to all students unless accompanied by a teacher," he gave a few students a pointed look. "Mr. Filch would like me to inform you that magic is not to be used in the corridors, and you may find a list of all banned items on his office door."

A few students, including James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, snickered knowingly, and Lily could have sworn she saw Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkle.

"On a more serious note," he went on, catching the stare of any student who would look him in the eye. "Dark times are approaching, as the Sorting Hat was kind enough to tell you. I am sure that many of you have noticed that Lord Voldemort has been conspicuously absent from the headlines, as of late, but we have recently learned that this is explained by his traveling abroad, recruiting witches and wizards to his cause from all over Europe.

Only the Muggleborns showed any true fear at this statement, and even their reaction was mild at most. To Lily, who was a Muggleborn herself, Voldemort had always been a far-off threat. Sure, she had read many newspaper articles during her first few years at in school about Muggle killings and the Dark wizard's campaign to make the world pure, but such things seemed light-years away when she was safe at Hogwarts.

"My family tried to get me to join," Lily heard Sirius snort from a way down the long house table. She glanced his way and saw his grey eyes flash angrily at the thought of his parents; she felt a small pang of pity for the boy. "I told them to go to hell, of course, and now they're telling Regulus that he should 'uphold the family honor' and do it himself."

"But he's only fourteen," said Remus, and even from her spot, Lily could see his brow furrow. "Surely Voldemort wouldn't take him."

"They're getting him ready for when he comes of-age," James told the others, stabbing a potato with more force than was necessary.

"James is right," agreed Peter quietly; his small features showed his disgust. "They probably want to get the thought into his head now, so that when he turns seventeen, that's all he will ever have known."

Sirius said something under his breath that Lily could not hear, but then Professor Dumbledore raised his arms and the murmuring throughout the hall died away.

"I realize that this is a frightening notion," he spoke calmly. "And so I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our staff, Professor Black."

A tall woman with lustrous black hair and a mouth thin enough to rival Professor McGonagall's on a bad day stood and nodded to the students, taking them all in through dark, heavily lidded eyes.

"There were numerous applicants for the Defense Against the Darks Arts position after Professor Schriener was unfortunately devoured by a particularly nasty set of robes," Dumbledore explained. "But Miss Black proved to be the most knowledgeable in the subject. I feel that she has much to offer Hogwarts."

"Black?" Lily wondered aloud, echoed by many others. "Sirius, is she your-?"

"Cousin," Sirius explained, looking up at the staff table curiously. "Bellatrix, one of the better ones, actually, but I never would have imagined that she'd have the guts to actually teach something anti-Dark Arts. Uncle Cygnus and Aunt Druella must be _thrilled_," he finished sarcastically.

"Well, as long as she doesn't support Voldemort," said James. "Then I'm glad she's here."

* * *

Lily and Remus led the new Gryffindors through the many corridors of the castle once Dumbledore dismissed them, making sure they knew the password to the Tower before entering it. They stopped in the Common Room and Lily explained where they were to sleep and bathe before sending the exhausted looking children off to bed.

"Well," Remus began when the last of the first years had disappeared. "They seem all right."

Lily smiled, about to agree, when Remus' best friends burst through the portrait hole, laughing loudly. Her grin turned to a grimace as she imagined what could possibly make them so happy.

She hated the fact that, in another life, she might have been able to enjoy the boys' more entertaining pranks (at least, the ones that did not hurt any of the students), but thoughts of her proud parents back in Lantern City were never far from the young witch's mind. So, responsible she would remain.

"What did you do?" she asked, crossing her arms and taking on a defensive stance. She was not keen on using her new Prefect powers against her own House, but with those boys, she knew it might come to that regardless.

James winked at her and took her arm, pulling her over to the fireplace. "Nothing you can prove," he said in a low voice.

"Ugh," Lily groaned, pushing him away from her. "We're here for _two hours_ and you're already up to no good. I don't even know what to say to you anymore."

"I knew I'd leave you speechless one of these days," he said, rumpling his hair and cocking his eyebrow in a seductive manner he had mastered years before. "So I'll make this easy. All you have to do is say 'yes' when I ask you to go out with me, Evans. I'm sure that even in your wordless state, you can manage that."

Lily could feel her temple throbbing in anger. "Look, Potter, I'm not sure if you're asking me out for a bet, or a prank, or just to humiliate me, but whatever the reason, I'm not going to fall for it. Everyone else stopped making fun of me years ago. I don't see why you feel the need to keep doing it."

"I knew it was too good to be true," James sighed, grinning down at her. "Lily Evans will never run out of things to say."

"Yes, yes, I'm a know-it-all. Very original, Potter," Lily said, rolling her eyes and attempting to brush past him.

James held an arm out to stop her. "But you're not. At least, not like Olivia Montague, who just about jumps out her seat every time a teacher asks a question. I didn't mean you're a know-it-all. I just meant that you always have something to say."

Lily quirked an eyebrow and ducked under his arm. "And as much as I would love to stand here and come up with a witty retort to that, I think I'd rather just go to bed."

So she did.

* * *

**_www. pottedlilies. blogspot. com_**

**Well, there it is! I'm so thrilled to finally be editing this story! I hope everything was to your fancy. ;) And I know, crazy-long author notes, but this is the only time they're like that, I promise!**

**ONE MORE IMPORTANT NOTE: **(Sorry I'm talking so much, again, this is the only time I will!) Everything in this story has been researched thoroughly using the Harry Potter books, the Harry Potter Lexicon, Harry Potter Wiki, things J. K. Rowling has said herself, and a few other sources. All of the characters should be the correct age (in the original version, some of them were really off). This means that Bellatrix, Lucius, and a few of the other Death Eaters had already left Hogwarts by the time Lily and James enter their fifth year, but they will still play their own roles in the story! Particularly Bella, as you can already tell. THIS IS BEFORE SHE ANNOUNCES HER ALLEGIANCE TO VOLDEMORT. Some of the characters were mentioned in the books, but they have first names that I have made up, since JKR never gave them names, but for the most part, they should be the characters you know. Everything should fit into canon, and yes, there are OCs in this story, but it will conform to what we know of the characters by the end.

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Love Always,**

**Kayla**

_In the day by day collision called the art of growing up, there's an innocence we look for in the stars. To be taken to the younger days, when there was no giving up on the people we held closest to our hearts. – _Razorblade, Blue October


	2. Dream A Little Dream

**EXTRA BIG THANKS** to _Joelle8, Benny Kid, Queenie's Broken Heart, jamesywrites, Marteczka's Quill, Rebecca, lightyagami'sbaby, WhereIsMyThumpThump, Anonymous Marauder, ksteele4978, Alysa4eva, Mogseltof, raneonthewyndoepain, AmeliaNior, BlackCat718, Sarahrules336, Loona22, MessrsMWPP, jenn222,_ _Akt5us, _and _The Rainbow Ninjamaster_ for the reviews! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that. Also thank you to everyone who favorited/alerted!

**Last Time:** Spinner's End is a dreary place to grow up, Lily is quite glad to get away. She and Alice are best friends, but rather different. James is a jerk. Sirius is a tragedy, and Remus is even more of one. Peter is a Marauder (AKA, not forgotten). Vanessa (Lily and Alice's good friend) used to date Caradoc Dearborn, but he cheated on her with her old best friend Waverly. Mary is the other girl in their dorm.

**Disclaimer:** Lily Evans, James Potter and all related characters belong to J. K. Rowling. This is written for entertainment purposes only. Everything you recognize is JKR's, while OCs are entirely my own creation. The quotes at the beginning and end are not mine unless otherwise stated; I will try to credit them as best as I can.

_"If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders."  
__-Unknown_

**Chapter Two: Dream A Little Dream  
****(September 2, 1975)**

James was soaring around the Quidditch pitch on his new Nimbus 1700. The conditions were perfect for Quidditch, which he was playing two-aside with Remus, Sirius, and Peter. It was really quite unfair, seeing as James far exceeded all of them in the sport, but he had teamed up with Remus, who was easily the worst, in an attempt to even the odds.

As there were only two players per team, any of them could catch the snitch, so when James spotted it far off on the right side of the pitch, he zoomed away, leaving Peter, who had seen it too, far behind. As soon as he got close, the tiny golden ball zipped away, zigzagging and spiraling and trying to throw him off the trail, but James never took his eye of the target. He chased it all over the field—around the goalposts, through the stands, close to the ground, and high in the air—before it flew out of the boundaries of the pitch all together.

_Odd,_ thought James, as he followed it out over the castle and towards the mountains beyond. And it was, indeed, odd, for snitches were charmed to remain in the designated area of the Quidditch arena.

James grew more desperate as the sun set and still he had not caught the snitch. He was far into the mountains now, and flying more slowly. The snitch seemed to be weary as well, for its wings fluttered half-heartedly.

Dark clouds moved in, and the rain began to fall. James contemplated giving up and returning to the castle, but just as he had made up his mind to do so, the snitch zoomed straight toward him and into his outstretched hand.

Thunder crashed, but it seemed dim in the faint gold glow emitting from the tiny winged ball.

Suddenly, James found himself being violently shaken.

"James!" yelled Sirius. "Oi! James, wake up!"

James reluctantly opened his eyes to find Sirius hovering over him, shaking his shoulder.

"Wazgoinon?" he mumbled, his voice slurred with sleep.

Sirius rolled his eyes and went over to his trunk, which he searched through until he found the black pants and white oxford that all the boys wore under their robes. "Breakfast, dumbass. Get up before all the good stuff's gone."

James hoisted himself out of the bed and looked around the dormitory. It already looked as though it had been hit by several demolition spells, which was not abnormal for the four boys.

"Where are Remus and Peter?" James asked as he pushed a stack of old books and parchment off of his trunk so he could open it.

"Remus dragged Pete out of bed about half an hour ago so they could get their schedules changed."

James pulled on his oxford and tied his red and gold tie. "To what?"

Sirius shrugged as he examined his clothes in the mirror. He seemed to decide that they didn't look quite devil-may-care enough, so he un-tucked his shirt and rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. "Dunno," he said casually. "I was having a good dream."

James decided not to say "me too," as he was still uncertain if the dream had been anything more than frustrating. Instead, he ran a hand through his hair and pulled on his robes. "You ready?"

"'Course I am. Why do you think I woke you up?"

James rolled his eyes as he and Sirius left the dormitory, his dream completely forgotten.

* * *

_Sympathy_

* * *

Upon entering the Great Hall for breakfast, Sirius purposefully kept his eyes off the Slytherin table, where his younger brother, Regulus, was undoubtedly sitting. Instead, the older Black sauntered across the room, winking at a rather attractive blonde seated at the Hufflepuff table.

He slid easily onto the bench beside James and glanced around for Remus and Peter. The former was having some sort of conversation with Lily Evans and her friends a little ways down the table, and Peter stood arguing with Professor McGonagall.

Marlene McKinnon took the seat on Sirius' other side, her friend across from her, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"All right, McKinnon? Mason?" he asked, his tone casual.

"Glorious," said Marlene as she poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice. "The new edition of _The Arts_ should be arriving today, and there is this article I've been simply _dying_ to read about this sculptor…"

Sirius toned her out, as he was used to doing. Marlene McKinnon worked very hard to come off as interesting, and she failed rather miserably more often than not.

Marlene was a decent looking girl, with pale skin and a pointed face. Her raven hair always lay perfectly flat, and she never went anywhere without a hearty layer of eyeliner.

She would never admit it, of course, but Marlene was very insecure. She had a strong-willed mother who expected her to be the same, and a father who was brilliant at everything he tried. Her brother and sister were individual, smart, and funny, and Marlene often felt rather dull by comparison.

Flippant and shallow, Marlene would have done better in Hufflepuff or Slytherin, and she was used to snide remarks from other students telling her so.

"Oh! Look, the mail!" she exclaimed, causing those around her to automatically turn their heads upward in search of their owls.

A regal great grey dropped a letter onto Sirius's plate and flew across the Great Hall to join Regulus at the Slytherin table. The older Black rolled his eyes—even the family owl liked his younger brother better.

Without really caring what the letter contained, Sirius unsealed it to find his mother's disjointed script.

_Sirius,_

_As you are aware, you still have a chance to fall back into the favor of your father and me. However, should you choose the path of a blood traitor once and for all, I forbid you from speaking to Regulus while you are at school. The Dark Lord himself has asked about the two of you, and I will not allow you to ruin your brother's chances at joining the Pureblood cause. As I said, both of you were asked after, and therefore you have this opportunity to do us all proud and make the right decision. I can only trust that you will._

_Walburga B. Black_

As always, her name was signed with a proud flourish, and Sirius pulled a face.

"Anything important?" asked James, feeding toast to his barn owl, an unopened letter in his hand.

Sirius shrugged. "No. She's warned me to stay away from Regulus, but why I would ever want to go near him in the first place…"

James just nodded and Sirius was grateful.

"Oh!" squealed Marlene suddenly, causing James and Sirius to flinch slightly. "Just _look_ at this sculpture…"

* * *

Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year

* * *

Lily and Remus were talking about their Prefect duties when the mail came. Lily, whose parents had no owl, did not expect anything, but Vanessa received _The Daily Prophet_, which contained a grim black headline. Vanessa gave Lily, Alice, and Remus a worried look before picking up the paper and reading it aloud.

_**FAMILY OF THREE ATTACKED IN YORK, TWO DEAD, ONE MISSING**_

_Andrew Barber, his wife Lucinda, and his son Logan were attacked early last night while at the greengrocers in York. The four wizards responsible claimed to be 'Death Eaters,' followers of Lord Voldemort, and produced the image seen above._

Vanessa stopped for moment and showed them a photograph of a glittering green skull with a snake emerging from its mouth.

_Andrew and Lucinda Barber were both Muggleborn, which leads investigators to believe that the attackers __are__ affiliated with Lord Voldemort or fully support his Pureblood-only campaign, as they stated._

_These wizards were masked and vanished before they could be apprehended. Witnesses claim that Andrew and Lucinda were violently tortured before they were killed, and the alleged Death Eaters took eleven-year-old Logan with them when they Apparated. His current whereabouts are unknown, but the Ministry is launching a full investigation headed by Auror Hamish Williamson. For an inclusive interview with Williamson, turn to page 7._

"I've heard of him, Williamson," said Remus. "My mum used to be an assistant in the Auror Offices. She never thought too highly of him."

"Nor do I," Lily agreed, motioning to the paper. "Anyone who has time to give an interview while they should be out searching for a missing boy can't have all their priorities straight, can they?"

"He's probably just trying to give the people some peace of mind," Alice reasoned. She took the paper and turned to the specified page. There was a photo of a middle-aged man with a beak-like nose and long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Yes, listen," the witch continued. "_I have assembled a team of highly qualified Aurors who are on the case as we speak. I have never known them to fear anything and there is no case that Octavian Conrad cannot solve_."

Vanessa took a sip of pumpkin juice before saying, "Let's hope so. I mean, what if it was Owen or Claude?"

"If it was either of your brothers, your parents would be out there searching, too," Lily told her friend with a small smile. "And they would find him. But I know what you mean. That poor boy. I can't imagine what this must be like for him."

"Morning all!" sang Mary MacDonald, plopping down on Alice's side. She had a grin on her face that seemed sorely out of place amid the somber looks of the others.

"You're certainly in a good mood," Alice observed. Lily imagined that the curly-haired brunette must not have read _The Prophet_.

"Well, of course I am!" exclaimed Mary, buttering a piece of toast. "Not only is Gemma Kirkley _finally_ dating Sam Bennett—I saw that coming _ages_ ago—but did you see that article in the Entertainment section of _The Prophet_? The Corrupted Pixies are releasing their new album soon and they're holding a concert in Hogsmeade to kick it off! I'm going to speak to Gideon about getting a Hogsmeade trip that day."

She said all of this very quickly.

Lily and Remus exchanged a look as Mary happily took a large bite out of her toast.

"Mary?" asked Vanessa. "Didn't you see the front page?" She held up the paper to support her point. "A little boy got kidnapped."

The other witch shrugged. "They'll find him. The Aurors are trained for that sort of thing, aren't they?"

"His parents were killed," Alice elaborated.

"And tortured," added Remus.

Mary's face fell momentarily. "Oh…well… Look! Here comes Derek—I'd best be off."

They hardly had time to bid her goodbye before she had reached her boyfriend halfway between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables.

"Why is she avoiding this?" asked Vanessa absentmindedly.

"Maybe that's her way of dealing with it," Lily answered, watching Mary chat animatedly with Derek. "Perhaps she just can't face it. Mary's so happy most of the time, maybe she doesn't really know how to handle something so depressing."

"Hmm," muttered Alice, resting her chin on her hand and following Lily's line of sight. "Hopefully all of this Voldemort business will be over before she has to learn how to handle it."

"Hopefully."

* * *

_Who We Are_

* * *

James and his friends joined the queue of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. There was a macabre sort of feeling in air after that morning's paper. An Auror had arrived during breakfast to question a second-year who had been the Barbers' neighbor, and having the tall muscular wizard walking the halls kept the tragedy fresh in everyone's minds.

They were soon distracted, however, when Constance Malfoy paused on the way to her own class. She was surrounded, as usual, by a fairly large group of rather brutish Slytherins, but the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were hardly intimidated.

"Thought you were going to get off easy today, did you Bones?" Constance drawled, her voice high-pitched and haughty. Edgar Bones looked over, bored, from where he stood with his friends. As was his usual, he remained silently passive.

"Your daddy's in the paper again," Constance continued, waving the newspaper around for everyone to see. "Most people don't want to read about him when some family has been murdered, but he just can't seem to be faithful to your mum, can he? Last year it was that actress, and now a _maid?_ What is this world coming to if our own Minister for Magic sinks so low?"

"You're one to talk, Malfoy," sneered Sirius, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'd take a look at the company you keep before you insult anyone else."

Constance raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows in a challenging sort of way, and everyone knew she was thinking _blood traitor_, but at that moment, the door to the Defense classroom was opened and the Slytherins were forced to move along to their own class.

Bellatrix Black was stunning with her lustrous dark hair and sparkling eyes. There was a definite resemblance between the witch and her younger cousin, Sirius. She could not have been older than twenty-five, and her robes were a bit less modest than what most of the teachers wore.

"In," she said, her voice was low and scratchy. Without another word, she turned and sauntered back up to the front of the room.

James made to sit down in the back of the class, as usual, but noticed that there was a name plate on the desk that read _Derek Greene_. Sighing, he scanned the room, praying that he did not end up next to Amata Blane, a girl so intelligent that she had no social sense whatsoever. He had received many strange love letters from the girl in the past in which she had declared him "almost as lovely as a 0-and-Puss game of Gobstones"—whatever that meant.

To his delight, Amata seated herself across the room next to Meredith Dye, who was a kind, if unattractive, girl who looked as though she was trying to give Amata a welcoming smile.

His own happiness vanished quickly, however, when he saw his name plate resting directly beside the one that read _Evans, Lily_.

"Damn," James swore under his breath as he threw his stuff down next to hers.

Lily Evans had always rubbed James the wrong way. She had a high-and-mighty attitude that clearly showed that she thought everything she did to be better than James's "impudence," even though she herself was often unfair and rude. She put on an angelic appearance with everyone, and the students as teachers adored her, but James knew that it was all an act. He was the one that pushed her just far enough that she showed her true colors, and they were far from white and gold. She had yelled at him and cursed him until he could hardly think straight, all because she could never take a joke.

That was possibly what bothered James the most: Lily had no sense of humor whatsoever. She took everything the wrong way and could not see that his little pranks were all in good fun. She said it was because James had bullied her back in First Year, but he had just been trying to make her laugh. The only person that he had ever meant to harm was Severus Snape, who was the creepiest bloke in their year, more-so even than Byron Mulciber, a Slytherin who cursed people for fun, or Euan Ackerley, a Hufflepuff that lived in the library and ate parchment. Snape followed Lily around like a lost dog, pretending to be her friend, while he dabbled in the Dark Arts when she was not around. He was two-faced, like Lily, but far more vile, and James had never been able to stand it.

"I'm not thrilled with this, either, Potter," she told him coldly, having heard his quiet exclamation. "Just don't speak to me so I won't have a reason to hex you."

"Of course, Your Majesty," James said dryly. "As long as you don't put me in detention."

"Then don't be a prat," she hissed back.

"Prig," James sneered.

"Git."

"Swot."

"Quiet, please!" Professor Black ordered.

It was only then that James realized how close he and Lily had gotten. Their faces were inches apart; he could clearly see the bright red that was blossoming across her cheeks and feel her warm breath against his lips.

Her eyes, which he had known were green, seemed to be more than just that. In her anger, they seemed to come alive, and they danced with a golden light.

He hurtled himself back immediately, almost falling out of his chair. He was not supposed to notice those things about her. She was _Evans_—the Prefect, the snob. She was the girl who would never say yes to him, and he was not sure that he would enjoy it if she did. The two of them were only ever meant to argue.

Lily did not seem to have detected anything odd about the situation, for she merely sent him a scathing glare and set about finding her ink and quill.

She was pretty, James decided absentmindedly. Too-skinny, certainly, but her red hair was long and fell about her thin shoulders in a flattering sort of way. She had a straight, pointed nose that wrinkled slightly whenever her expression changed, and her lips were a light pink color. He knew she had a pretty smile, though he had never been on the receiving end of it. He liked the way her teeth were too big for her face and how they all showed when she smiled.

Wait.

No.

_This was Evans_. It didn't matter what she looked like, because she would always have that better-than-you attitude. That pretty pointed nose would always be in the air. That extra-large smile would never grace her lips in his presence.

He pulled his books toward him and rested his arms on them, putting his head down and refusing to look back at Lily.

"As you all are aware," Professor Black was saying, standing in front of the blackboard, "This is the year in which you will take your O.W.L. exams. These tests are vital to your futures and your career choices, so I would advise you all to think very carefully about what you wish to do when you leave Hogwarts. You will need at least an E on your Defense O.W.L. in order to continue the course on the N.E.W.T. level, and almost all professions require a N.E.W.T. in this subject." She spoke in a slow way, and her voice broke occasionally. It was unnerving.

"Yeah?" asked James aloud, ignoring the professor's odd manner of speaking. "What about Quidditch?"

The woman looked at him for a moment with a calculating expression. Then she turned to the rest of the students. "Well? Can anyone answer Mr. Potter's question?"

"Quidditch doesn't require anything but skill," Lily said, an annoyed expression on her face. "Why bother learning anything if you're just going to go get it all knocked out of you by Bludgers?"

"Correct, Miss…?"

"Evans," answered Lily.

"Miss Evans makes a good point," the professor continued, but James was no longer listening. Instead, he was observing the disappointed look on Lily's face.

"What?" he whispered, and one of her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Nothing," she told him, turning her head back to the front of the room.

James, however, was persistent. "Come on, tell me." He moved his chair a little closer to hers and she sighed in aggravation.

Her eyes snapped back to him. "Do you really plan to just breeze through school pulling pranks and learning nothing? You can't play Quidditch for the rest of your life, you know. Even in the Wizarding World athletes have an expiration date."

James rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, noting that she pursed her lips after asking questions. "It doesn't matter," he told her. "My family has enough money that I wouldn't have to get a job for the rest of my life. I can do whatever I want."

"Then maybe you're lucky," she whispered back. "But maybe not. I don't think it would be a very fulfilling life to never have to work for anything."

"Miss Evans, will you read the passage on the board for the class?" asked Professor Black, breaking into their conversation.

With an almost pitying look at James, Lily sat up a little straighter and turned to the board.

"_The best way to defeat an enemy or opposing force is to know it intimately. The more one knows about a thing, the easier it is to find its weaknesses_."

"For example, Miss Evans, who would you consider to be your closest friend in this room?"

"Alice," said Lily, pointing to the petite blonde witch who was seated next to Sirius a few tables over.

"All right, so say that Alice did something horrible to you and you wished to get revenge. What about her would you attack?"

James watched Lily bite her lip and glance at her best friend. "I don't really want to say anything," she said uncomfortably. "Even if we aren't fighting it would hurt."

Alice looked relieved and James almost found himself admiring Lily's choice. Almost.

"Fair enough," said Professor Black, though there was a strange gleam in her grey eyes. "Do you have an enemy in the room, Miss Evans?"

"Erm, I'm not entirely certain if _enemy_ is the right word, but I suppose it would be Potter."

Bellatrix raised her long dark eyebrows at the coincidence of placing the two next to one another.

"I suppose the two of you fight, then?" she asked.

Lily nodded.

"Then what do you say to him?"

"Well… I call him arrogant and egotistical and immature and impudent mostly."

"And Mr. Potter, what do you say to her?"

"I call her a prig," said James. "And I tell her that she's too high-and-mighty, and that she needs to find a sense of humor."

"And are either of your insults effective on the other?"

James glanced at Lily, who met his eyes and the two simultaneously shook their heads. "Not really."

"So there are worse things you could talk about?"

"Of course," Lily answered immediately. "But he doesn't know me well enough to be aware of any of them."

"Same," said James, vaguely wondering what she could be hiding. Lily Evans seemed to have everything anyone could want (except a sense of humor, of course).

Professor Black grinned and cast her eyes around the rest of the students. "You see? This is a perfect example. Miss Evans knows her _friend_ so well that she would know _exactly_ what to say to hurt her should the desire ever arise. However, she keeps Mr. Potter at a distance, so neither of them knows the other intimately enough to be able to… cut each other down."

"So are you saying that we'll be studying Dark wizards?" asked Olivia Montague, a know-it-all if James ever met one. "So that we know them well enough to 'cut them down'?"

Professor Black smiled; it was a mirror image of Sirius. "Exactly, _exactly._ What better way to destroy your enemies than to learn _all_ you can about them?"

James tried not to look it, but he was rather impressed with this new Defense teacher. The bloke from the year before had spent more time worrying about the students being in dress code (which was hardly enforced by anyone else) than in teaching them any magic. But Bellatrix Black seemed to have the right idea, and in his lifetime, James had seen more than enough to assure him that there was some goodness in the Black bloodline.

"Now," the professor continued, "with your partner, make a list of every Dark witch or wizard that you can think of. The Purebloods will find this easier, so rest of you may use your textbooks."

There was a brief silence before students began turning to one another and pulling out parchment and quills. James watched as Lily scrawled both of their names across the top of her paper. She paused and met his gaze.

James realized that she was waiting for him to say something, so he leaned forward slightly and shrugged. "Well, Grindelwald, obviously."

"Obviously," Lily repeated, writing _Gellert Grindelwald_. "And of course, there was Herpo the Foul and Elladora Black, though I'm not sure Professor Black will appreciate that one."

"Yeah, but didn't Elladora live about a hundred years ago?" James commented. "I doubt anyone would be bothered by it anymore."

Lily chewed her bottom lip for a moment, looking lost in thought, before scratching both names onto the parchment. "What about Merwyn the Malicious?"

"Never heard of him," James answered, growing rather bored with the assignment. "But he sounds as though he fits the criteria."

Lily rolled her eyes as James lounged back in his chair. "Merwyn the Malicious was a wizard who lived back in the medieval times and invented loads of Dark Magic."

"Bully for him," James yawned. "Clearly you know what you're talking about. Why ask me?"

With a glare: "I don't know."

She was silent for a moment and James took the time to observe her again. Her dark red hair was tied back, pulling it all away from her face, which was narrow and defined. There was an odd sort of look in her eyes that he could not place—it was something almost…_haunting._ But that was not really the right word. It simply looked as though she had seen more in her life than he would have expected from the Prefect.

It was almost intriguing.

But this was Lily Evans, and James did not think of her like that.

He then went about ignoring her until the period was over.

"Everyone, pass your lists to the front of the room," said Professor Black. "I'll compile them and we'll start with the earliest on the list and bring it up to present day. No homework."

Appreciative sighs could be heard throughout the room as the students stood up and made their way out into the hall.

* * *

_Book of Me and You_

* * *

As always, Severus Snape spent his break outside with Lily. He had never been particularly fond of the outdoors, having grown up in the smoggy environment of Lantern City, but Lily said that it was refreshing, so he followed her out every day.

"It was odd, Sev," Lily was saying as the two of them sat on a low stone wall in one of the courtyards. "It was like Mary refused to even acknowledge that anything happened."

Severus smiled at his name on her perfect lips. "Maybe that's just how she deals with things."

Lily smiled then, and said, "That's what I told Vanessa, but still… How could someone just ignore the fact that two people were _murdered?"_

"You're talking about the one with the curly hair right?" Once Lily nodded, he continued, "She's not exactly bright, is she? I've always thought she was a bit of a slag."

"Mary is _not_ a slag," insisted the witch, frowning slightly. "And she's plenty bright. I don't know why she wanted to avoid conversation so badly."

Severus shrugged. "You asked. I'm just giving my opinion." He did not mind her argument, mostly because he knew that she would defend him in the same manner.

"I know," she told him and pushed a strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. He knew she would not apologize, though, however snappy her retort. She would never say she was sorry for protecting a friend.

"How's Professor Black, then?"

Lily shrugged. "She seems to know what she's talking about, at least. But she partnered me with Potter, and that put a bit of a damper on the class."

Severus would never tell her, but his heart sang whenever Lily made a derogatory comment about James Potter. The arrogant Chaser had been trying to get Lily to go out with him for as long as Severus could remember, and even though Lily always declined and thought that Potter was merely taunting her, Severus dreaded the day when she was convinced otherwise.

"I should be going," said Lily, glancing at her watch and tossing her bag over her shoulder. "I've got Divination and that's on the other side of the castle."

He nodded and gathered his own things and the two parted ways.

* * *

_Best Is Yet to Come_

* * *

Divination.

It was far from Lily's favorite subject, and it certainly did not help the situation to be cramped in a tiny room in one of the highest towers in the school with twenty-three other people. It was easily the most crowded fifth-year class on its time slot, as the other options were Magical Law and Ancient Runes.

Lily might actually have taken Law, but Alice had pleaded with her to do Divination instead. Of course, the redhead could not fathom _why_ exactly Alice loved the class so much, since she was one of the worst at the subject.

Vanessa had refused the invitation to join them, and had chosen the much more difficult path of Magical Law, so Lily found herself seated at a tiny, cramped table with Alice, Mary, and Waverly.

Sirius and Peter, the only two of the four that had taken Divination, were at the table directly to their right, and it sat so close that if Lily moved, she would elbow Sirius in the ribs.

It was not a pleasant environment.

The few windows in the room where latched shut, and thick curtains obscured any natural light that might enter the room. It was lit, instead, by the eerie glow from the crystal balls that lined the shelves and by a few floating candles at shone blue.

Professor Elvira was a short, squat woman with eyes that were held in a perpetual squint (some said this was because she was always looking beyond, Lily thought it was because she lived in a dark room). She had extremely frizzy hair so black it looked almost violet and a downturned nose.

"I have placed copies of _The Dream Oracle_ on your tables," the professor told them in her wheezing, squeaky voice. "Interpreting dreams is not only a useful way to determine the future, but also a way to help one understand the present. If you would, please," she paused to give a hacking cough, "tell one another your most recent dreams and use the books to interpret them."

Lily flipped open the copy that sat in front of her and strained her eyes to see the pages in the dark. She looked up, wondering who would be first.

"I'll go," Alice said brightly. "I've been having this recurring dream that I'm walking through the woods—it might be the Forbidden Forest, I never really can tell—and I come to a fork in the road. I never go anywhere I just stand there."

"Woods…woods…" Lily muttered, flipping through the yellowing pages. "Here we are. _The woods represent a journey that one is taking or will take. They show __a desire to express what is inherent in you, and for the mind and emotions to move in their own way. Therefore, when dreaming of the woods, one often will face a personal journey to become who they truly are_."

Alice grinned. "Keep going, what about the fork in the road?"

Lily turned back to the front of the book and read, "_A fork in the road represents a choice. If one path is dangerous while the other is safe, it could show that the decision you must make shall be easy. If the two paths are the same, it represents a much more difficult choice. If, in the dream, one moves forward onto one of the paths, then the decision is already made. If one stays at the fork, then the choice is yet to be presented to them_."

"Do you think it's true?" asked Mary, her aqua eyes wide. "Can you think of any big decisions you might have to make?"

Alice thought for a moment before she shrugged and smiled again. "I don't know. Not that I can think of, but maybe that's the point. We're trying to predict the future, so we can't already know what's going to happen."

"Sirius, _come on_," whined Lois Li, a Hufflepuff girl that was sitting beside him, and her voice carried over to Lily and the others. "You must remember _one_ dream."

Lily and Alice looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They were quite used to girls flirting with Sirius, and it had gotten old.

"I don't," said Sirius, but something in his tone told Lily that he was lying. "I don't think I even _have_ dreams."

"You must," Taylor Moon, another girl at his table, told him in a sweet voice. "Everyone dreams."

"Why would Sirius need to dream when he can have the most beautiful girls in the school while he's awake?" said Peter, coming to Sirius' rescue.

Lois and Taylor giggled. And it was true, Lily supposed. The two girls _were_ rather stunning with long legs and flat stomachs and perfect hair and pretty faces. But they knew they were good-looking and flaunted it, which had always bothered most of the Hogwarts girls.

"How are we doing, girls?" rasped Professor Elvira, suddenly appearing behind Alice.

"Decently," Waverly answered truthfully after jumping at the older witch's arrival. "We've established that Alice has an important decision coming up."

"O-ho!" the squat little woman exclaimed delightedly. She coughed violently before she shooed Lily out of her seat and plopped down next to Alice. "Give me your palm, dear, I must know more!"

Alice looked thrilled and Lily had to smile. The blonde had never before received such positive attention from the Divination professor.

"Yes… yes…oh. Oh my," Elvira muttered, her squinty eyes opening wide for an instant.

"What?" asked Alice, yanking her hand away and staring at her palm as if it would miraculously start spouting out the answers she wanted.

"You will have great tragedy in your life, dear one," the little woman said quietly, however, the room had gone completely silent, so it was not difficult to hear. "Matched only in the greatness of the love you will find."

Alice furrowed her brow in confusion, and Lily knew that her own face must look the same. "What kind of tragedy?" the redhead asked warily.

Elvira seemed to speak more to herself than to any of the students. "But is it truly tragedy," she mumbled, "if she affects so many lives for the better?"

"What are you talking about?" Alice's voice was shaking.

As if noticing that Alice, Lily, and the others were there for the first time, Elvira snapped out of some sort of daze and merely shook her head.

"The curse of the Seer," she told them wisely, "is that we are never able to see the whole picture. We receive bit, pieces, but we are left to string the broken, incomprehensible fragments together."

"Meaning…?" prompted Mary, leaning forward slightly.

"Meaning that I see darkness and light, but both obscure more than they illuminate."

With that, she returned to her desk in the far corner of the room and refused to acknowledge the students for the remainder of the class period.

* * *

_Reach Out_  
(Meanwhile)

* * *

"I never want to go to Defense again," Vanessa groaned, banging her head on the table in aggravation. She was seated in the disorderly Magical Law classroom, where Professor Towler seemed at home amidst clutter.

"Was the new professor that bad?"

The brunette looked up, only to find herself sitting at a table with three people of the male persuasion. It had been Benjy Fenwick, a Hufflepuff, who had voiced the inquiry.

"It wasn't Professor Black," Vanessa answered him. "Just...never mind."

She could not tell three boys of the woes of being forced to sit beside her ex-boyfriend, Caradoc, for the entire hour and a half that was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Just then, a heavy book thumped onto the table, making all four fifth-years jump. It was leather-bound and black, with cracks along the spine and crinkled yellow pages.

"They do not make copies of this book anymore," Professor Towler, a handsome man with wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a straight smile, told the class. "You can tell that these copies are very old. Some of them are held together by Spell-o-tape and magic. Others are clinging on all on their own. It's quite miraculous, really. Students have been using these books since before I became a teacher—they've been beaten to the point where any normal book would have fallen apart, but these—"

"Yes, yes, that's great and all," interrupted Constance Malfoy, looking impatient. She was at a table with Severus Snape, Caradoc Dearborn (Vanessa avoided looking at him at all costs), and Euan Ackerley, whom Constance had scooted as far away from as possible. "But are you going to tell us what the books _are_?"

The Slytherin had picked up her own large black book and was turning it over in her hands, looking for a title.

"Right!" exclaimed Towler, startling Euan, who had been nibbling on a corner of his textbook. "These books date back to before 1692, which was when the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy was established by the International Confederation of Wizards. At that time, I'm sure you know, the Supreme Mugwump was Pierre Bonaccord, who wanted to give rights to trolls so that…"

Vanessa tuned the Professor out for a moment and glanced around her table, which consisted of James Potter, Edgar Bones, and Benjy Fenwick. None of them looked like they knew what a "Supreme Mugwump" was, much less who held that title in the Seventeenth Century.

That was the entire class—eight people. Almost everyone in Vanessa's year had taken Divination, and even the Ancient Runes class had a higher number of students than Magical Law.

"So this is the law then?" confirmed Edgar when Towler paused to take a breath. "These books, I mean. They contain all of Wizarding Law?"

"The Code of Secrecy, some of the original charters, the Underage Laws, Guidelines for half-bloods—werewolves, centaurs, mermaids, the like. It includes most of the Werewolf Code of Conduct, Wand Use, and quite a few general rules," the professor elaborated.

"So… yes?" Benjy asked under his breath, and Vanessa, James, and Edgar could not help but laugh.

"You may look through the books with the others at your table," Towler told them. "We mightn't be able to learn everything by the end of the year, as we'll have breaks, and I'm sure classes will be canceled at least once for one reason or another—flu, explosions, protests, attacks, you name it. Though actually, we don't have many explosions in this part of the castle. There aren't any physical magic classrooms in this wing; it's just Law, History of Magic, and Arithmacy here. Of course, there was that one enormous potions disaster a few years back that took out almost every class in the school…"

"Long-winded, isn't he?" Benjy commented as the four fifth-years carefully opened their textbooks and began scanning the table of contents.

Benjy reminded Vanessa of Sirius Black in quite a few ways. It was not only his shaggy hair and grey eyes, but also his sarcasm and laid-back attitude that connected him to the Gryffindor in her mind.

Edgar, on the other hand, was the most gentlemanly boy Vanessa had ever met. His father, Jethro Bones, was the Minister of Magic, and Edgar had grown up being groomed for the press. He was smart—a Ravenclaw—but he always seemed so alone.

"Painfully so," James groaned in answer to Benjy. Vanessa nodded in agreement and Edgar looked like he was hiding a smile.

"Let's see…" Vanessa mumbled as she scanned the faded pages. "The original charters look interesting. They were written at the time when the Wizarding World split from the Muggle World."

"Guidelines for half-bloods," James scoffed, looking disgustedly down at a picture of a rampaging werewolf and a vampire luring a young girl away from her family. "That's ridiculous. Don't they realize that half-bloods aren't any different than us?"

"I didn't know you cared so much," Benjy commented, appearing slightly amused.

James, however, did not seem to take the matter lightly. "I do," he stated, his voice almost harsh in his conviction.

"Those laws were written long after the original charters and the first draft of the Code of Secrecy," Edgar explained calmly. He brushed brown hair from grass green eyes and rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. It was a habit of his that they had all seen portrayed in T_he Daily Prophet_ and_ Witch Weekly_. "When we split, the wizards that made up the government were firm believers in equality amongst all magical beings, but when the goblins rebelled in 1754, those same wizards' sons decided that magical creatures needed to be separated from humans."

"Which really wasn't a good idea," Vanessa noted. "Didn't that just lead to more rebellion?"

Edgar nodded. "There were six consecutive uprisings after the new laws were passed regarding separation. The goblins led them all, but the werewolves aided their cause each time, and occasionally the goblins were able to recruit centaurs, giants, vampires, and merpeople to fight as well, which led to a divide between full-blooded Wizards and everyone else."

"And the wizards didn't learn?" asked Benjy, who had stopped lounging in his chair and was leaning forward in interest.

"I wouldn't say _that_," said Edgar, playing the politician. "The government had reasons for what they did. They wouldn't isolate half of the magical population for something shallow."

"I consider prejudice pretty shallow," argued James. "Even if they had valid reasons back then, all it is now is intolerance for people who have the potential to be dangerous."

Vanessa thought about this for a moment. She had never really considered it before, but James was right. "Of course," she began slowly, "wizards have the means to be dangerous as well—more-so, even, in a lot of cases. Look at Voldemort and tell me that wizards don't hurt each other just as much as anything else."

"Jolly good!" exclaimed Professor Towler, who had been listening. "I like where this conversation is going! We'll have to discuss this. Mr. Snape, would you and Mr. Dearborn move your table over here? I want all of us to hear this." He turned back to Vanessa and the boys. "Did you know that there have been more 'evil' wizards than any other species? Of course, most of them aren't taught in school, and still more have never been recorded in books. There was one wizard by the name of Dietrich who was the actual mastermind behind World War II. He's never mentioned, since wizards prefer to place the blame on a Muggle, but in actuality…"

Vanessa stopped paying attention again when the other table bumped against her own, causing Constance's belongings to spread out over both tables. The blonde scooped them up, but she conveniently left that morning's _Daily Prophet_ in front of Vanessa, and it was open to the article that the Slytherin had taunted Edgar with earlier that morning.

**MINSTER FOR MAGIC FACES NEW SCANDAL**

_Jethro Bones, Minister for Magic for the last seven years, was caught in bed with the Bones family's 36 year-old maid Saturday night. The Minister himself is 53._

_Bones was photographed entering and leaving a hotel with actress Antonia Amper last year, and the scandal was hastily smoothed over with alleged bribery on the Minister's part. However, up-and-coming journalist Rita Skeeter, 24, managed to obtain photographs of the Minister performing illicit acts with the maid inside his own home. The contents of the photos are too erotic to post in _The Daily Prophet_._

_Bones's wife, Lenore, 48, refused to be interviewed. She left journalists with the comment, "I have no intentions of abandoning by husband. We shall work through this together."_

_Their two children, Amelia, 19, and Edgar, 15, are unavailable for interview at the present time, but Skeeter plans to speak with them on the subject at the first available opportunity. Neither child had anything to say during the Amper Scandal, and Skeeter speculates that they are "bursting with emotion and finally ready to expose their father for what he truly is." Look for her debut biography _Jethro Bones: Minister or Monster?_ to be released in early November._

_Such scandals have been the undoing of past Ministers, and it is up to the Wizengamot to decide upon Bones's fate. He will appear before the committee in a public trial on September 20._

Disgusted, Vanessa pushed the paper away and met Edgar's eyes. They were guarded.

"What do you think, Miss Reese?" asked Towler.

"Huh?"

"Miss Malfoy was just saying that wizards are doing the half-breeds a favor by limiting their rights. She says that it's not evil to protect them."

Vanessa scoffed, crumpling the newspaper before answering. "I think that Malfoy is completely wrong. Wizards are human, and the things that they do to each other and to beings that they consider less than them are vile in every sense of the word."

"Do you speak of the Death Eater attack in this morning's_ Prophet_?" Towler inquired.

Edgar met Vanessa's eyes again. His expression did not plead with her to forget what she had read; it was simply curious as to her opinion on the article.

"The attack was horrible and inhumane and _wrong,_ yes. But what is _also _wrong is the fact that journalists go out of their way to get a 'good story' on public figures." She held up the wrinkled newspaper to prove to her point. "_And _that those who read the paper take every word as fact. They make judgments on people based on what they read about them, and sometimes, that can be just as evil as what Voldemort does."

"How do you mean?" prompted the professor, perched on the balls of his feet.

"She means that the people of the press are nothing more than vultures, and that those who listen to them without question aren't any better," said Benjy, glaring at Constance. "There's a war starting up out there and there's a whole page of the_ Prophet_ dedicated to tearing the Minister down. What if he stays in office? He needs the faith of the people more than ever, but will they be able to give it to him after reading something like this?"

"Who's to say he'll stay in office?" sneered Constance. "My uncle Abraxus holds a good deal of sway in the Wizengamot, and I know he'll make sure that Mr. Bones is removed from his position."

"But that's just the thing," James spoke up. "I don't know which side you're on in this, Constance, but I would like to think it's the same as the Minister, and me, and the rest of us." As he motioned to those sitting at his own table, Vanessa found herself surprised at his seriousness. "And what we _don't_ need is to all be fighting amongst each other when Voldemort is out there. He's surely waiting for when the Ministry is at its weakest—which will be the time between an old Minister and a new one. If we kick Minister Bones out of the Ministry, we're playing right into Voldemort's hands."

"So you think it would be best to keep Minister Bones, in spite of all this controversy?" asked Towler, practically bouncing up and down in excitement that the conversation was so deep.

"Definitely," James nodded. "Everyone has their vices, don't they? Frankly, I don't give a damn who he's shagging as long as he keeps the Wizarding World in check, and as far as I can remember, he's done a good job with that. The rest of it—that's family stuff. We shouldn't even know about it."

"Mr. Bones?" Towler asked then. "It's your father. What's your take on the issue?"

Edgar thought for a moment. "I think that we have to trust the people of the Wizengamot to do what they believe is best for the Magical World." Then, with a pointed look at Constance: "We have to hope that they don't submit to outside influences or bribes, and that they make the right decision for everyone."

"Come on, Bones," Severus Snape scoffed, speaking for the first time. "Not that I care, but you must have more of an opinion than that."

"You _should_ care, Mr. Snape," Towler told him excitedly, waving his hands around dramatically as he spoke. "This is your future we're discussing!"

However, no respond was allowed from either Snape or Edgar, for the bell rang signaling the end of the period.

"Fine, fine," Towler stated as everyone packed up their things. "Your homework is to write an essay conveying your thoughts on this issue: Should we keep the current Minister for the sake of stability, or should we remove him because of his actions and hope the next person to fill the spot is more 'honorable?' You may write as much or as little as you wish, as long as you answer to question. I will see you all again on Friday."

* * *

_Can't Fall Down_

* * *

_The Evening Prophet _arrived that night at dinner, and Lily borrowed Marlene's copy while the fourth-year flipped through her new edition of _Witch Weekly._

"Any news on the Death Eater attack?" Alice asked while Lily scanned the paper. "Have they caught the suspects yet?"

Lily shook her head sadly and looked up at her friends. "No, the Ministry doesn't know the identity of the wizards, so they don't have any leads. It says here that the team that's on the case will be coming to Hogsmeade to question the storekeepers about any suspicious activity."

"But what about the little boy?" asked Vanessa worriedly, leafing through her own copy of the paper.

"Nothing so far," Lily told her sadly.

"Oh, you lot! You have to read this!" squealed Marlene suddenly, and Lily, Alice, and Vanessa turned to look at the younger witch that sat across from them.

Marlene laid the magazine she had been reading down in front of the three of them. The page contained a large picture of Amelia and Edgar Bones, followed by an article titled _Minister's Scandal Has Repercussions for His Children_, _by Rita Skeeter_.

Vanessa huffed in aggravation and pushed the magazine away. "Why are you reading that rubbish, Marlene? We know Edgar. All that that article is going to do is blow the whole situation out of proportion."

"But Mr. Bones is the Minister for Magic," Marlene insisted, taking the discarded magazine and placing it neatly in her bag. "How can you not care that he's a bad person?"

Alice came to his defense before Vanessa could say anything else. "Jethro Bones is _not_ a bad person. I've met him quite a few times and he really does have the peoples' best interests at heart. So what if he's made a few mistakes?"

"They're pretty big mistakes if you ask me," said Marlene with conviction.

"They're only big because he's the Minister," Lily told her gently. "If it were anyone else, no one would care. They would go about their business as usual. However, since he's the Minister for Magic, everything he does is analyzed and criticized more than it should be."

"And like Vanessa said," Alice continued, "we know Edgar. The only 'repercussions' he's facing are the ones caused by these articles."

"Fine," complied Marlene. "_Merlin, _no need to attack me."

"Sorry," mumbled Alice.

"Yeah," agreed Vanessa. "I had this discussion earlier in Magical Law. I guess it's not really fair to say the same things to you as I said to Constance Malfoy. It's just…you didn't see the look on Edgar's face. It was so…complacent. And I guess I just felt bad that he's the only one who really has the right to an opinion on this, but he can't have it because the press will get hold of anything he says and use it against his dad, you know?"

Marlene nodded. "Well, he might be able to have an opinion after the hearing on the 20th. If Mr. Bones gets kicked out of office, then the family will be free to do whatever they want."

"Mm," said Lily with a hint of sarcasm. "What a happy thought."

* * *

After dinner, Lily parted with Alice and Vanessa to go to the library, where she planned to meet Severus to work on homework. Before she reached the fourth floor, however, a small noise caught her attention.

Noticing no one in the main hall where she walked, Lily turned down a somewhat narrow corridor, lit by the orange glow of the torches and by the weak moonlight streaming in through the high windows.

The little girl was nearly invisible in the shadows, but Lily could make out her thin form sitting on the floor with her knees curled up to her chest. She could not have been older than twelve.

Lily hesitated, unsure of what to do. However, as another sob escaped the girl's throat, Lily knew that she could not simply leave her there. Instead, she cautiously made her way over to where the girl sat and slid down the wall next to her.

The little girl looked up in surprise. Her face was blotchy and tear-stained. "You-you're Lily E-Evans."

Startled that the young girl knew her name, Lily only nodded. "What's your name?"

"Harmony P-P-Proctor."

"What's wrong, Harmony?" asked the Prefect gently.

She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes on her sleeve before reply. "W-well," she began, her voice shaky from crying, "Did you h-hear about that b-boy, Logan B-Barber?"

"Of course," Lily answered. "It's in _The Prophet._"

Harmony nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Th-that Auror that c-came, Oct-ta-tavian Con-_hic_-rad," she hiccupped. "He qu-questioned m-me about L-Logan because I-I'm their neighb-b-bor."

"Oh," Lily sighed, realization coming over her. "You were the second-year Dumbledore mentioned when he told us about the Auror coming."

Another nod. "Mr. C-Conrad wasn't n-n-nice to me at all."

"What did he do?" Lily asked, suddenly wary of the bulky man that had been in the building the entire day.

"H-he j-just got really m-mad when I didn't know wh-what happened or wh-who would w-want to attack L-Logan. He y-yelled at me."

Lily wrapped her arm around the little girl's thin shoulders, unsure of what else she could do. "At least it's over now."

"B-b-but Logan is st-still missing!" Harmony insisted. "And I-I can't help. W-what… what if they k-kill him t-too?" The last part was whispered, as though it was the first time all day that she had voiced this fear aloud.

Lily could not truthfully say that she thought it was unlikely that the Death Eaters would kill Logan Barber. She thought for a moment in the dim torchlight, watching it dance on the wall across from her before she gave the girl's shoulder a squeeze and said, "The Aurors will find him. They're good at what they do."

She inwardly winced knowing that they might not find him alive.

* * *

_Unwell_

* * *

James Potter was rarely alone. During the day, he was surrounded by the hundreds of students that lived in the castle, and at night he and his friends were always up to something.

So it was almost an odd feeling to sit by himself under his invisibility cloak at the top of the Astronomy Tower. The world was quite, save for the gentle breeze that blew over the low stone walls. Stars twinkled overhead, but James was not looking at them. Instead, he unsealed the letter that he had received at breakfast that morning. It had been burning a hole in his pocket all day, but as soon as James had recognized the untidy script, the wizard knew that this was a letter he needed to read alone.

He scanned the contents twice before sighing in relief.

* * *

**I hope that you liked it! I'm kind of just…**_**eh**_** about this one. I like the next chapter much better. Anyway, let me know what you think about this one!**

**As always, spoilers, chapter playlists, etc. on the blog.**

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**Love Always,**

**Kayla**

_Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.  
-Robert Brault_


	3. Lies And A Bit of Truth

**THANK YOU**_**:**__ jamesywrites, Jenn222, Mogseltof, The Rainbow Ninjamaster, BlackCat718, Alysa4eva, Rebecca, no pretence, Joelle8, xExpectoxPatronumx, MessrsMWPP, Akt5us, WhereIsMyThumpThump, ofergy, FutureAuthor-Hopefully, Loona22, lana-bear, Benny Kid, Queenie's Broken Heart, TheSpatulaGirl, LilyxJames4ever, ksteele4978, Love-Pink26, Sarahrules336, _and_ WhiteCamellia _for the reviews!

**Previously:** James has a weird dream about a snitch. Alice dreams that she will have to make a big decision. Edgar Bones' father (the Minister for Magic) is caught in a sex scandal with a maid. Sirius' mum tells him to stay away from Regulus. Mary pretends that there is nothing bad going on. A boy named Logan Barber is kidnapped and his parents are killed. Aurors come to ask the Hogwarts students about the family. James decides that Lily is pretty, but the two are still very much at odds. A little girl named Harmony is interviewed, but treated badly. James receives a letter.

"_The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out." _—Thomas Babington Macaulay

**Chapter Three: Lies (And A Bit of Truth)  
**(_Present: Sunday, September 7, 1975_)

_Dear Mum, Dad, and Petunia,_

_How are you? I hope you're all doing well. Sev sends his regards, as always._

_Getting back into the routine of Hogwarts was interesting. There's a new Defense Professor, and I'm beginning to wonder if she's sane. She's brilliant, of course, but there's something quite mad about her. _

_It's as peaceful here as it can be, I suppose. Other than a small Potions explosion, nothing has really happened that merits any kind of mention._

Here, Lily stopped writing and chewed on the end of her quill thoughtfully. She sat on the top of the staircase that led to the Owlery early Sunday morning. The breeze was nice there, and Lily had formed a bit of a tradition of spending the first sunrise of each week writing to her family.

The reason the witch had halted the flow of words was simple. The last statement she made was a lie.

But what else could she say? Should she tell them about the boy who was kidnapped? Or the Aurors that had interviewed every student about the boy's possible whereabouts? Should she explain the horrors of the war that were creeping rather quickly into the lives of the students of Hogwarts?

Of course not.

Thinking back to her own interview solidified this decision in her mind.

_Saturday, September 6, 1975_

Octavian Conrad was a forty year old wizard with hair the colour of a pumpkin. His face was square and he favored his left leg when he walked. He had narrow eyes and bushy eyebrows and lips too thick and dark for any man.

Conrad entered Auror training fresh out of Hogwarts, and had never been well-liked by those he worked with (or anyone, for that matter). He drank more than was healthy—even for a wizard—and smoked whenever the opportunity presented itself. He was tall and rude and demanding, but he always got his job done.

Lily despised the man.

She had entered the room in which the interviews would be conducted. It was nothing more than a magically expanded broom cupboard, and it smelled rather strongly of cleaning supplies (recently mixed with the all-together unpleasant odor of stale smoke).

Conrad was seated behind a rickety wooden table. Hundreds of file folders were stacked beside him, each neatly labeled with the name of a student. He did not look up as she sat down, but merely dipped his quill in ink and poised it over a fresh piece of parchment.

"State your name," he said in his gruff voice. His hair was disheveled and there were dark circles under his eyes.

"Lily Evans."

"Any relation to Elizabeth Evans?"

"The seventh-year? No, sir."

"Blood status?"

"Muggleborn."

The Auror sighed tiredly as he placed "MB" beside her name. "Have you ever encountered the Dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort?"

Lily shook her head, but he was still looking down. "No, sir. All I know of him is what I've read in the paper."

"Do you know the Barbers in any way, or do you know anyone who knew them?"

Her green eyes narrowed at this. "I met Harmony Proctor the other night," she told him frostily. "She was crying because _you_ were so harsh to her in her interview."

Conrad finally looked up, though there was no regret in his eyes. "Was she?"

"Yes," Lily said curtly. "What did you do to her?"

The wizard shook his head. "I did what it took to get the information I needed."

"And _had _she been able to give it to you, I probably would not be as angry. I want you to find the boy too," explained the witch. "But she said that you continued to insist even when she had clearly stated that she knew nothing. She said you used Veritaserum and extracted her memories and everything. All for nothing."

"It not up to you to judge my actions," Conrad said harshly, his eyes narrowed. "It's my job to find the boy. You'd have done the same."

Lily said nothing. _Would_ she have done the same?

"All of you children are alike. You think you know what you're talking about, but you've never had the experience. It's easy to tell someone where to throw the Quaffle after the play is complete."

More silence from Lily. She stared at her hands in her lap.

"Get out."

She did.

_Present_

Lily shook off the unpleasant memory and left the sentence as it was. Dipping her quill into the inkwell that sat beside her, she continued.

_Professor Slughorn is having another one of his parties in a few weeks. Alice has a gorgeous dress that she's going to let me wear._

Lily had never made up her mind on the concept of a lie by omission, but as she stopped writing once more, she realized that if ever one existed, she had just put it on paper.

_Friday, September 5, 1975_

After lunch on Fridays, there was a free period for the fifth-years, and Professor Slughorn asked Lily to aid him with his Remedial Potions class. The prefect complied.

There were five students in Lily's year that were required to take the course, and the entire class was comprised of twelve people.

"Good, good," Slughorn commented as the students took seats around the tables in the large Potions classroom. "I've got essays to grade, so Miss Evans and Miss MacDonald will be leading the class. If there are any questions they cannot answer, feel free to come see me."

He bid them farewell and entered his office, leaving the door open.

Lily turned to Emmeline MacDonald, Mary's older sister by a year. The two girls had the same round nose and close-set aqua eyes, but the similarities stopped there. Mary was short and curvy, while Emmeline was tall, with straight blonde hair as opposed to Mary's copper-coloured curls. The older MacDonald wore glasses, thin and rectangular, and had very small teeth. She rarely smiled.

"I'm leaving," announced Amycus Carrow, a sixth-year Slytherin with a lopsided leer. "I won't have Mudbloods teaching me magic."

He stood to go, and Lily would have let him, but Emmeline waved her wand and the classroom door slammed shut before he could reach it.

"If that's really how you feel, Amycus," said the blonde, her face expressionless, "then we could always have _you_ teach the class. Of course, I doubt anyone here really wants to learn how to create a potion so devastatingly wrong the cauldron actually spits it out, but to each his own I suppose."

To Lily's surprise, Amycus sat back down, albeit grudgingly.

Emmeline turned back to the others, a cold glare behind her glasses. "Is there anyone else who wishes to leave? If you feel you're above this, by all means, go. But do not hold me responsible when you fail out of the class." When no one moved, the Ravenclaw continued. "I felt that today we should start with the basics. We won't actually be making anything, only preparing ingredients. If you go wrong there, the entire potion is ruined. Is that all right with you, Lily?"

Lily said it was and the two girls began passing out ginger root, ashwinder eggs, snake fangs, and porcupine quills.

"The trick with the ginger," Lily instructed, "is to grind it as fine as possible. The nutrients aren't released as well when the pieces are thick."

The class went on in that manner for a little under an hour. Then, Slughorn reappeared with a few sealed envelopes in hand.

"I'm having one of my little get-togethers Saturday, the twentieth," the professor told her, handing her an envelope with her name in loopy script across the front. "I do hope you'll be able to attend. The Corrupted Pixies will be there, you know! _Lovely_ girls—always send me concert tickets, backstage passes too!"

Lily smiled and nodded. "Of course, Professor," she told him. "I wouldn't miss it."

Slughorn moved along the table to give Rhonda Lestrange and Emmeline their invitations, and Lily turned back to Peter Pettigrew, to whom she was attempting to explain the concept of crushing sopophorous beans instead of cutting them.

"It releases the juices better," she told the boy, as he turned his silver dagger on its side and pressed down on the dark purple bean. "Sev—someone taught me that just this morning."

"Snape," Pettigrew supplied easily. "I'm not thick, Lily." He proceeded to crush the sopophorous bean and did not hide his surprise when a great deal of liquid burst out.

"And apparently not too petty to take the advice of someone you hate," Lily noted, very aware of the mutual animosity between her friend and the four Gryffindor boys.

Peter shrugged. "Snape's good at Potions. I _would _be thick if I chose not to listen to him."

They sat in silence for a moment before Slughorn reappeared. "Mr. Pettishmu," said the professor, holding two envelopes out to Peter, "I trust you'll give these to your friends, as usual."

Peter nodded, a look of contempt present in his blue eyes. Lily frowned.

"Professor? Aren't you going to invite Peter?" she asked before she stopped to think about what she was doing.

"Lily don't—" the blonde boy began, but Slughorn cut him off.

"How rude of me," said the older wizard. "What do you say, Pepper? I could always use another person to hand out drinks!"

Slughorn seemed to think this was some sort of honour, but Lily disagreed. "That's not what I meant—"

"Don't be silly, Lily! Pepper would love to come, isn't that right?" He looked at Peter expectantly.

The Gryffindor shook his head, placing the letters for James and Sirius in the pocket of his robes. "Sorry, Professor, but I've been just as happy not going for the last four years. I don't see any reason to change that."

Slughorn look disgruntled, then offended, and left without another word.

Once he was gone, Peter glared at Lily. "You didn't need to do that," he told her a bit harshly. "You don't have to try to make everyone happy. Really, I don't want to be invited to those stupid brownnoser parties."

"Sorry," Lily told him, and she meant it. She looked at her hands in her lap while she spoke. "It was just rude of him to ask you to give those to your friends and then not invite you."

"It doesn't matter," said Peter. "Sirius never goes anyway, and James only goes because his mother would hate him if he didn't."

"Sorry," she muttered again, and briefly wondered how Peter could stand to always live in the shadows of his friends.

_Present_

She was not _lying_ exactly, Lily decided, but the news of the party (for her, at least) was dampened dramatically by Slughorn's treatment of Peter. Lily was not even particularly fond of Peter (though he was more bearable than the two of his friends that _were_ invited), but it was just wrong for a teacher to treat anyone that way.

With a small sigh, Lily put quill to parchment once more.

_Alice and Vanessa are both well. They had good summers, it seems. Alice got to meet Shrieking Silence! Vanessa was jealous, of course, but the Kestrels slaughtered the Wasps in the match yesterday, so all is well._

That was a complete lie, Lily noted bitterly. There was something resoundingly _unwell_ with Vanessa.

_Saturday, September 6, 1975_

That morning, a woman was seen conversing with Professor Dumbledore at the head table during breakfast.

"Rita Skeeter," Vanessa informed Lily, Alice, and Mary (Waverly was seated at the Hufflepuff table with a boy named Ezra Danning). "She's a reporter with _The Prophet,_ and she writes biographies. She's probably here to interview Edgar Bones about this scandal with his dad."

"Do you think he'll talk to her?" Alice asked interestedly, examining the tall woman with tightly curled blonde hair and jeweled spectacles.

Vanessa took a bite out of her apple and chewed slowly before responding. "I don't know. He and his sister wouldn't talk the last time, but now I think he thinks he might be able to do his father some good by telling the press that the family is going to be all right."

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," Alice commented. "Rita's written things for my mum's magazine before, and I would swear on my life that half of what she says is spun to fit her angle."

"I've always liked her articles," stated Mary, pushing a loose curl behind her ear.

"But you like everything, Mary."

Mary grinned and watched Vanessa for a moment before continuing, concerned. "Is that all you're going to eat?"

Vanessa looked down at the half-eaten apple on her plate and shrugged. "I never eat much for breakfast."

"Actually, I haven't seen you eat more than a few bites at any meal since we got back to school," Lily told her friend, her worried expression mirroring Mary's.

"I guess I just haven't been that hungry." She would not meet anyone's eyes, but she did glance toward the Hufflepuff table.

"This isn't about Caradoc and Waverly…" Lily guessed.

"There is no 'this,'" Vanessa insisted, but her attempts to convince the other girls were futile.

"Look," Mary began cautiously, her usually happy expression turned serious. "Waverly's my best friend, and she used to be yours too. You know she didn't mean to hurt you. It was… a really horrible decision, and she's so sorry. It's just—"

"It has nothing to do with the choice she made," the brunette told Mary curtly.

"So there is an 'it,'" said Lily carefully, not wanting to anger her friend.

Vanessa's eyes widened just slightly. "No, it's nothing. I…"

"You're not eating," supplied Alice, crossing her arms. "And we want to know why. If you think that there's something wrong with the way you look, then you're daft, and if you're depressed because of what happened, we can so see Madam Pomfrey for a Cheering Solution."

"I'm _not_ depressed."

"So you think you're fat."

"No…_no._"

Lily and Alice exchanged a look while Mary reached across the table and put her hand on top of Vanessa's.

"Being friends with Waverly for so long has always made me question my own weight," she admitted quietly. "Wave's _so_ thin; I could _never_ fit into most of her clothes. But I've learned that that's no reason to be down on yourself. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. For Wave, it's her figure. For me, well, _I _think I have a nice face, and my hair looks rather fantastic when it cooperates." She was smiling now, and the corner of Vanessa's mouth twitched up for the briefest instant.

"But Doc picked her, didn't he?" asked Vanessa, going back to playing with her food.

Lily knew that they had reached the heart of the issue. "Listen, Ness, I know you really liked Caradoc, I do. But…maybe it just wasn't meant to be. He's a nice guy, sure, but maybe this is supposed to teach you that there's someone out there for you that's better than he was. Maybe your soul mate is out there."

"_But,_" continued Alice, "you can't sit here sulking for the rest of your life. If you want to find him, you have to look around every once in a while."

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." But Vanessa had no real intention of doing so. "Oh," she went on, glancing at her watch and standing up hastily, "time for my interview. I'd best be going."

"Vanessa…"

"I'm _fine._ Stop worrying, all of you."

_Present_

Vanessa was definitely _not_ fine.

Lily could not imagine why she was hesitant about telling her mum of her friend's troubles. Flora Evans was quite good in situations such as this. But something held Lily back. Perhaps it was because the rest of her family idealized Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. They saw it as a fairytale, and back in Lantern City, fairytales were rare indeed.

Lily found that she could not bring herself to shatter that image for her family. They needed the idea of Hogwarts more than Lily needed their advice.

Footsteps on the Owlery staircase made her jump.

James Potter appeared, dressed in a jacket and trousers, with an envelope in one hand and owl treats in the other. He did not notice her sitting on the top step until he nearly tripped over her.

"Evans?" he asked, catching the rail to keep his balance.

"Potter," Lily greeted. "What are you doing here?"

James, who had regained his composure, ran a hand through his untidy black hair and rolled his eyes. "I'm here to enjoy the aroma," he told her sarcastically, gesturing to the owl dung that covered the majority of the floor. "What do you think, Evans? I'm responding to a letter."

Lily pulled a face. "I _know_ why you're here," she restated, "but what I meant was why now? It's half-five on a Sunday!"

"You're here, aren't you?" he replied, entering the Owlery and locating his bird. He fed it the treats as he awaited Lily's response.

She set her things down and followed him, feeling slightly defensive. "I always come here on Sunday mornings. I can think in peace. _You're _disturbing it."

James flashed a grin and tied his letter to the owl's leg. "Last I checked,_ you're_ the one that followed me. I'd have been in and out in no time, but here we are, having this intriguing conversation."

"I don't understand you," said Lily, crossing her arms and following him as he carried his owl to the window. "One minute you're talking about the solidity of the future, and the next you're being a git."

_Saturday, September 6, 1975_

Lily returned to the Common Room after breakfast hoping to start on the dream diary Professor Elvira had set for the month, but forgot about it all together at the sight of James Potter.

He was sitting at one of the low tables with parchment strewn all around him. Chewing on the end of his quill, he flipped through what appeared to be multiple editions of _The Daily Prophet_, and was so absorbed that he seemed to not have noticed her entrance.

It was not that James never did his homework—Lily had seen him working rather frequently over the four years that she had been in school with him. What made the sight strange was the fact that he seemed genuinely interested in whatever it was he was doing.

Not wanting to disturb him, Lily chose a spot several tables away and took out the small purple book that the Divination professor had provided for the assignment.

_Tuesday, September 2, _she wrote on the first page, straining her mind to remember what she might have dreamt about five days prior. Her concentration was broken, however, by an aggravated sigh from across the room. Attempting to ignore him, Lily stared at her own parchment. She rarely remembered her dreams even the morning after she had them; she had no idea how she was supposed to recall something from days before.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…_

"Potter, please stop," said an aggravated Lily.

The boy looked up and stopped drumming his fingers on the table. "Oh, right."

They each went back to their own work.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…_

"_Potter_," Lily exclaimed, her head starting to ache. "What is it that you're working on?"

"Just an essay," he told her without taking his eyes off an article from _The Prophet_.

"Some essay," Lily commented in an off-handed manner, pushing her long hair out of her eyes. James said nothing and Lily once more strained her mind to come up with a dream.

_Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…_

"Potter!"

James looked up at her with an amused grin on his face. "That one's you, Evans."

Lily looked down to where her own fingers were drumming absentmindedly on the table.

_Tuesday, September 2, I dreamed that everyone in the world had their hands chopped off._

"What are _you_ working on then, Evans?"

Lily quirked an eyebrow. James did not really sound interested, but perhaps, he had realized (as had she) that the two of them were having one of those rare moments in which they were nearly content in one another's presence.

"Dream diary," she told him, making a conscious effort to keep her fingers from tapping. "For Elvira. She thinks it'll help us tell our futures."

The boy snorted. "Precisely why I opted out of that class."

"Because you don't think dreams can tell the future?"

"Because I don't think _anything_ can tell the future. And even if it could, I don't think we should know about it."

Lily hesitated, knowing that any meaningful conversation could escalate to an argument. "Why not?"

James, too, felt the tension. "I suppose I think that whatever will happen will happen, and that what we do determines that. If we know what's going to happen… what's the point of living now?"

"Hmm," Lily mumbled noncommittally.

"Well, why are you taking the class?"

Lily paused, carefully constructing her words so as not to sound directly contradictory. "I think that it's interesting to know how our lives are…'destined' to turn out. But I guess I also think that we don't have to play by fate's rules. We can know what is supposed to happen, but do something to change it."

"You can't," said James, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. His homework lay forgotten. "Whatever is predicted… that's the sum of all the choices you make and all of the influencing factors that interfere up until the event. No matter what you do to change it, things are still going to happen the way they are predicted."

"I thought you didn't think anyone could tell the future."

"True Seers can," admitted James. "I won't argue that. And it's been known to happen with other methods. But the results of true foresight are always the same—people try to change things, but they can't. Personally, I would rather not know. Knowing would drive me mental."

"I don't know. I think I might like the security of it all."

But James still had her beat as he grinned and said, "Isn't there a saying about that? _Security is mortals' cheifest enemy_ or something?"

"I didn't know wizards read _Macbeth_," said Lily, mildly impressed.

"What's _Macbeth_?"

Mildly.

_Present_

"You never did tell me what _Macbeth_ was, Evans," James retorted, having obviously been reminded of the conversation as well.

Lily waved away the question. "It's just a play about a man who's driven mad by power."

"Then what's that got to do with—"

"Security?" supplied the witch. "Three, uh…_witches_…predict Macbeth's future. He becomes too secure in his position and is eventually killed because of it."

James grinned. "See? You've just proved _my_ point."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," Lily scowled. "I swear you're two completely different people."

Running a hand through his hair, James replied, "I'm whatever I want to be, Evans. "I'll let you get back to your _peace_."

He strode out of the Owlery before Lily had a chance to respond.

* * *

_Words We Speak_

* * *

Having sent his letter, James made his way across the grounds to the Quidditch Pitch. It was deserted presently, but the Gryffindor wanted to practice a bit for the trials that would take place later that month. He knew, of course, that he would be chosen for his usual position as Chaser, but James Potter was not one to simply settle with gaining his spot. He wanted to blow everyone away.

Besides, there was always a good turnout of spectators at the trials as well, and it never hurt to show off for the fit sixth-year Ravenclaw girls.

He grabbed his broom (a new Nimbus 1700) from the shed and entered the Gryffindor locker room, where he pulled on his Quidditch trousers and a windbreaker, before making his way out onto the pitch and taking to the sky.

James Potter had always been a gifted wizard—in looks, in intelligence, in charm. But flying…flying was something that he was _more _than gifted in. It was as though his whole being was designed and crafted to fly.

Once in the air, he was completely connected with his broomstick. No thought was necessary, he moved and the broom moved with him. It was (for lack of a better description), much like dancing with a partner that could read his mind. It was certainly just as graceful as dancing.

He took a number of laps around the perimeter of the pitch, testing the limits of his new broomstick. It was, quite frankly, incredible. Of course, the Nimbus 1700 was the best broom in the world and James was the best flyer in the school. He felt invincible.

James was about to land and find a Quaffle to practice with when a lone figure in the stands caught his eye. He flew instead in her direction, only vaguely recognizing the blonde curls.

"You're the witch from _The Prophet_," he stated flatly, jumping off of his broom as she stood to greet him. In her red high heels, the two were the same height.

"Rita Skeeter," she introduced, giving James a once-over that he was not unfamiliar with. "And _you_, Mr. Potter, are going to star in my next article."

James felt his eyes narrow of their own accord. "I thought you were here about the Barber kid."

"No, no, no," Rita told him, smiling sweetly. "I was here to interview Edgar Bones. I'm the social correspondent at _The Prophet_, and _you_ are definitely something people will read about."

"If you're here for Edgar, why don't you go find him?" James was not sure he liked this woman. Her three-inch blood red nails were almost grotesque and her jeweled spectacles cast a strange gleam in her eyes.

Her smile grew wider. "I've already spoken with him. He gave me _quite _the interview. Of course, that's why they send me for this kind of thing. I have a way of…" she took a step closer to James and ran her hand up and down his arm, sending an odd chill through his body, "getting what I want."

James knew that this was something that he would have to get used to if he was to play Quidditch for the national team, so he thought that he might as well allow himself to enjoy the limelight a bit.

"Is that so?" He quirked an eyebrow and ran a hand through his hair. "Then, what exactly is it that you want from me?"

Rita grinned, clearly thinking that she had him on a string. "Oh," she began innocently, "just an interview with Hogwarts' hottest Quidditch star."

Before James had time to blink, she had pushed him into a seat in the stands and sat down beside him, pulling out a notepad and an acid green quill.

"So, James," she began, speaking quickly as her quill began to scribble without Rita's aid, "do you mind if I call you James?"

"I—"

"Lovely. So what first sparked your interest in the Wizarding World's most thrilling sport?"

Thrown slightly by her brisk manner, James ran his hand through his hair again and cleared his throat. "Erm, well, I suppose it was my uncle Charlus, mostly. He used to take me out flying when I was little, and I was just…_good_."

"And here?" continued Rita, leaning towards him. Her quill scratched feverishly beside her. "It's widely known that you're the most talented player in the school? How's it feel?"

James was used to being well-liked by people, but he was not used to such direct compliments. "Well, I wouldn't say—"

"No need to be humble, James," grinned the reporter, placing her manicured hand on his knee. James kept himself from flinching. "This is your chance to share you true feelings."

"Well, I _suppose_ I'm a good player," he responded, "but there are plenty of others here too."

"What about after school? Got any plans?"

"I would _like_ to play for Puddlemore United, but—"

"What about girlfriends?" Rita continued, switching subjects so quickly it took James a moment to process what she had said. "One? Many?"

"Er—"

"I saw you speaking with the redhead this morning. She's not nearly pretty enough for someone like _you._"

Lily aggravated him, certainly, but he felt suddenly defensive. James was the type of person to protect his own, and Lily was far closer (in whatever way) to him than Rita was. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh," Rita replied, one sculpted eyebrow shooting up in interest and her tone lower and less rapid. "So the redhead _is_ your girlfriend? What is it exactly that you see in a girl like her? She appeared rather plain to me."

"Lily is definitely _not_ my girlfriend," James insisted, very uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. "But she's not plain either."

"Unrequited love?" guessed Rita, looking thrilled by the prospect. "You _wish_ she was your girlfriend?"

James could not help but laugh, though he could not be sure whether it was from nerves or the absurdity of the reporter's proposition. "No, no, absolutely not. Lily and I don't exactly…get along."

James Potter told the truth. He said what was on his mind, and it had gotten him into trouble in the past.

But never like this.

Of course, on that Sunday in September 1975, James was completely unaware of the consequences of his statement, so he merely stood, informed the witch that he had somewhere else to be, and soared back down to the changing rooms, from which he left and made his way back up to the castle.

* * *

_Waiting for the World to Change_

* * *

In an expanded broom cupboard, another (much different) interview was being conducted.

"State your name," the gruff wizard ordered.

Sirius Black did so, leaning the chair he was seated in back on two legs.

"And relation to Regulus Black?"

"Brother."

"Which makes you the son of Walburga and Orion Black."

"Unfortunately."

"Have you ever encountered the Dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort?"

"Regulus was surely more of a help in that department," the older Black said casually, the entire affair rather pointless in his opinion.

"So you suspect your brother of supporting Voldemort?" the wizard who had introduced himself as Conrad continued, looking up from his parchment for the first time. There was the slightest spark of interest in his mud-coloured eyes.

Sirius gave him a look. "I _guarantee _he supports Voldemort's cause. My entire family, save a few, always has."

"So some of your relatives could be responsible for the attack on the Barber family?"

Sirius shrugged, leaning back further and placing his hands behind his head. "Doubtful. They're cowards, the lot of them. They'd rather sit back and let someone else do the dirty work."

Disappointment. It was the first emotion Sirius had seen cross the Auror's face since he had entered the room.

"Look," Sirius began, placing the legs of his chair firmly on the ground and leaning in a bit. "The people here, most of them don't know anything about what's going on out there. If you really want to find the kid, stop sitting around on your arse and get out there and do something productive."

Conrad's eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't speak to government officials like that, _Black,_" he spat the name as if it were an insult, and Sirius took it as such. "You wouldn't want your future falling into the hands of someone who could lock you up for the rest of your life."

But Sirius Black had never feared the Ministry, and he never would. In later years, people would call him unhinged for that, but though he made it difficult to see, Sirius, perhaps, had more sense than any of them.

"Well, that's the thing," the younger wizard said casually, grinning wolfishly at the Auror. "If my future really is in your hands, I should hope that you have more important things to worry about than the opinion of a Black."

He left the office without being dismissed.

* * *

_You Have Stolen My Heart_

* * *

"Shh," hissed the dark-haired girl, having heard agitated footsteps outside the broom cupboard in which she stood.

In the dim light, she could not see the boy roll his eyes. "It's probably just someone else coming back from an interview. We _did_ choose a closet right down the hall from Conrad's…uh…'office'."

"But still…" Waverly Rivers whispered. "We should try to be quiet."

"Remind me again why we have to keep this a secret?"

"_Because_, Doc, I already lost one friend by dating you," the witch explained, "and Mary came very close to hating me as well. If she knew about _this…_"

Caradoc Dearborn took his arms from around her waist and crossed them over his chest. Waverly could see the movement only in the thin strip of light filtering in from the crack in the door.

"I'm not one for ultimatums," he told her quietly, "so I won't make you choose between your friends and me. But Wave, '_this_' means something to me. More than Vanessa ever did, which is why I picked you."

"You broke her heart," retorted the Gryffindor. "And I know I was a part of that, and I agreed to it, but she was my friend. I don't want to cause her any more heart ache."

Caradoc nodded, a muscle working in his prominent jaw. "All right."

The Ravenclaw fifth-year had started dating Vanessa Reese in the second term of their third year. He had liked her as well as any thirteen-year-old boy could like a girl, but when he met her best friend, Waverly, he had discovered something more than just 'like.'

Waverly and Vanessa were two very different people. Waverly was sweet and nurturing, while Vanessa was blunt and spoke her mind. Waverly loved romance; Vanessa grew awkward when anything romantic occurred.

They were different, but something inside of them—that thing that he had first seen in Vanessa—was very much the same. Perhaps it was what placed them both in Gryffindor, but regardless, Caradoc had seen it and loved it in both girls, but Waverly had more than just that deep character. She was fun and affectionate and kind, and Caradoc loved her for that.

* * *

_Welcome to the Black Parade_

* * *

"Come _on_, Sev," Lily pleaded, grabbing the Slytherin's hand and pulling.

Lily rolled her eyes and pushed wet hair out of her face. Since she had returned from the Owlery that morning, the sky had darkened considerably and rain was falling on the grounds of Hogwarts.

She was attempting to bring Severus out into the downpour. Rain had been a rare occurrence in Lantern City, and she always enjoyed it immensely while at school. She wanted her friend to have that same appreciation, but he hid himself under an overhang.

"But, Lily," Severus said reasonably, pulling back as she pulled forward. "You're going to get sick."

"Then I'll go to Madam Pomfrey for Pepperup Potion," Lily told him, laughing at his exasperated expression. "Please?"

He sighed in defeat. "Only for a few minutes."

Lily grinned at him as he finally allowed himself to be dragged from the castle's protection. She let go of his hand and spun in circles, facing the sky. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"It's all right," he stated, flinching each time a drop hit his face.

Lily hit him lightly in the shoulder. "Don't spoil it, Sev."

"Fine, it's _brilliant_."

She laughed again, causing his face to light up slightly though she did not notice. "At least pretend like you believe it."

"But that good thing about home is that it _never_ rains. I like it dry."

"That's precisely what is _not_ good about home," Lily retorted. She felt her mascara running down her face and hastily wiped under her eyes. "The rain is so refreshing. When you're in the rain, it doesn't matter if you're having a bad day or week or anything. You're just clean for a moment."

"Lily," said Severus, slightly exasperated and clearly not enjoying the weather. "You're _always_ clean."

The witch rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "You've missed the point, Sev."

His smile was barely there, but it was enough to make hers even wider.

Suddenly, something that sounded vaguely like a human voice could be heard over the rain. Severus froze, then slowly turned in the direction of the forest.

"Did you hear that?" he asked as he cast an _Impervius_ charm over himself, clearly through with the idea of being out in the storm.

Lily nodded, curiosity sparked. "Should we go have a look?"

"Students aren't allowed in the forest."

"I'm a Prefect," Lily reasoned after a moment's hesitation. "We can tell them that I was merely making sure that it's not first-years having a laugh."

"Lily," Severus pressed as the redhead drew her wand and began making her way toward the tangled mass of trees and plants. "_Lily_, it's off-limits for a reason. It's dangerous."

Lily grinned. With Severus, she never felt like she had to be the perfect student that everyone thought she was. "Where's your sense of adventure? Come on, we've been in here before with Kettleburn."

If she had looked, she would have seen his frustrated expression. "I don't _have_ a sense of adventure," he stated bluntly. "Come back!"

He was forced to jog after her as her steps toward the forest hastened. "Lily, this is a horrible idea—"

"Be quiet for a moment," shushed Lily. The two were on the edge of the forest now, and the dense trees provided them almost complete shelter from the rain.

"Come on, Sirius!" the two students heard more clearly. "Come on. You almost had it that time!"

"Shut up, James, it's not nearly as easy as it looks," came the reply.

Lily and Severus looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"Maybe we shouldn't—"

"Come on, Lily, this was your idea. Let's see what Potter and his friends are up too."

Before Lily could protest further, Severus brushed past her and began making his way (with some difficulty) through the forest. Biting her lip, the witch followed. She almost had to light her wand in the darkness, but knew that James and Sirius would certainly be able to see it if she did.

Finally, the pair reached a rainy clearing, and, hiding behind the trunk of a very large tree, they were able to make out James Potter and Sirius Black standing in the center. Both were soaked-through with rain, but they seemed to be attempting some sort of spell. Peter Pettigrew sat not far off, an umbrella covering both himself and an enormous book that he was flipping through slowly.

"Oi," called the wizard on the ground, and the two boys looked back at him. "Sirius, try that again, but this time, use the incantation _Formae Amoveo_."

Lily and Severus looked at each other, silently agreeing to move closer, but a twig snapped behind them. Hearts racing, they jerked around and found themselves face-to-torso with a towering grey centaur.

He studied them for a moment, and the two students remained frozen. Lily briefly considered turning and sprinting towards the clearing, but quickly came to the conclusion that the centaur could outrun her.

"It does not do to wander the forest, young ones," he said in a deep, soothing voice. "There are creatures far more deadly than I in these trees."

"You're right," said Lily quickly, her voice smaller than she would have liked. She took a deep breath to calm her pulse and continued. "We heard voices and we wanted to be sure that—"

"The centaurs have consulted the stars in regards to the other students that are in the woods, and the Heavens tell us that they are where they need to be. You, however, I shall escort personally back to the castle grounds. It would not do for harm to befall you, young ones, for the stars hold much for you as well."

"What do you mean?" Severus asked, stealing a final glance over his shoulder at the clearing. "What do the stars say about us?"

The old centaur shook his head in an almost sorrowful way. "Too much, for ones so young, my friend. It is not my place to reveal your futures."

"Why not?" Severus continued, looking braver than Lily imagined he felt.

"I am old, young ones. I have seen many come to fulfill the destinies that the stars laid out before them, but I have also seen those who wish so much to alter their fates that they find a way to…_change_ their stars. To tell you what they say now would be to give you the option to change, and that is something we centaurs do not believe is right to do."

Lily bit her lip, thinking of what James had said to her about no one being able to alter their fate. The centaur's view was in partial contradiction with that, and though Lily was inclined to believe the being that studied the stars all his life, a small part of her also believed that perhaps James might know something about it as well. Why she wanted to believe him, she could not fathom, since her own personal views were more aligned with the centaur than with James. But he had spoken with such conviction that she found it hard to disregard him absolutely.

Severus looked as though he wanted to argue, but Lily held up a hand to silence him.

"Sev," she said. "Your future is whatever you decide to make it. Your choices determine how your life plays out, and no one can make those choices but you. Why try to change what you are already in control of?"

"Well said, young one," the centaur told her. "But you have much to learn. Now come. It is time for you to leave this place."

The two students followed him back through the thick trees until they were back out in the rain. With a nod, the centaur departed, and Severus looked at Lily.

"You need to tell McGonagall that Potter and Black were in the forest."

"What?" Lily asked, not sure that she liked the malicious gleam in her friend's eyes.

"McGonagall. She's their Head of House. She has to know that they were out of bounds."

Lily sighed. It was true, and she was a Prefect, which meant that she would be getting her own House into a good deal of trouble.

"Right," the witch responded at length. "Right. Let's go then."

With a satisfied smirk, Severus turned and led the way back up to the castle.

They walked in silence, save for the rain, but Lily's mind was working ardently.

_The Heavens tell us that they are where they need to be._

The centaur had said that there was reason for James, Sirius, and Peter to be in the forest. With all the recent discussion, Lily had yet to truly form a solid opinion on the matter of fate, but she could not help but wonder as they trudged through the castle to McGonagall's office if maybe, by turning the boys in, she was disturbing some greater purpose.

Not that she believed that James Potter had any higher purpose in life than to win at Quidditch, but Lily also knew (or thought she knew, at any rate) that Lady Fate had a mind of her own, and perhaps James was part of a bigger picture after all.

Severus told her that he would wait in the hall, and silently urged her forward until she knocked on the door of her Head of House. It opened a moment later.

"Miss Evans," said the tall, thin witch, "what are you doing here?"

Lily glanced back at Severus, who gave her a knowing look, before she said, "Erm, I was wondering if I could speak with you, Professor."

"Of course, Miss Evans, come in."

She did and sat in the chair McGonagall offered. The office was cozy, with a crackling fire that dried her clothes and a sagging bookshelf on the wall.

"What's this about?"

"Well…"Lily bit her lip and decided that some things should be allowed to run their course. "Erm, I was just thinking about the centaurs. We've been talking about them in Divination, and I've been fascinated by their view of the future. Do you really think they can see it in the stars?"

The stern looking woman raised her thin eyebrows, clearly not expecting such a question to come from Lily, but then she seemed to think about what she was being asked. "They've proven on numerous occasions that they can, in fact, tell the future."

"So why don't we listen to them? Couldn't they give the government important information?"

"They remain firm in their belief that one should not attempt change what is to come," Professor McGonagall went on. "Though the whole business is rather shoddy in my opinion."

Lily almost smiled. "But if they said something was important, we shouldn't try to mess with it?"

"Miss Evans, where, may I ask, are you going with this?"

A blush crept into the redhead's cheeks and she shrugged. "Nowhere, really. I was discussing it with someone else and I just wanted to know your thoughts on the matter."

The older witch nodded curtly. "Of course, Miss Evans. Is that all?"

"Yes, Professor," she stood to go, but before she reached the door, a voice stopped her.

"Miss Evans?"

"Yes, Professor?" asked Lily, one hand on the knob as she turned to face McGonagall.

There was a very Dumbledore-ish look in the woman's eyes as she spoke. "You play a much larger role in your future than the stars could ever hope to."

Lily smiled. "Thank you, Professor."

She left the office and found Severus looking rather bored on the other side of the door.

"Well?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"They're to receive detention," Lily lied, wincing inwardly as she did so. "Though I'm sure all three of them are booked well into next year already."

Severus grinned. "As long as they get what's coming to them."

As the two friends made their way silently down the corridor, Lily realized that she had just lied to Severus Snape to protect James Potter. _In what world would that ever happen?_ That thought rang in her mind as she walked, but the witch was quick to attempt to convince herself that she had merely lied so as not to lose House points.

That was the logical explanation, right?

Because regardless of what the centaur had said about the boys, the three of them would always be bullies, and Severus would always be her friend. It was simply absurd for anyone to do what Lily had just done.

Wasn't it?

Only time would tell.

* * *

This one is a little shorter than the others, but it needed to end here. I hope you liked it!

I was going to put more of Edgar and his scandal in this chapter, but it didn't work well, so that will be next chapter. Check the blog for more info. (:

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**Love Always,  
****Kayla**

_"Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true." —_Robert Brault


	4. Insomnia

**SPECIAL THANKS TO: **_ivyflightislistening, Sarahrules336, ksteele4978, Mogseltof, UndercoverHufflepuff, music watch, Jenn222, Loona22, Rebecca, Joelle8, Love-Pink26, Marieheart, WhereIsMyThumpThump, MissRose2481, The Rainbow Ninjamaster, WhiteCamellia, Akt5us, SecretlyAGryffindor, LilyxJames4ever, Alysa4eva, MessrsMWPP, Queenie's Broken Heart, Mary, Kmonae (EXTRA HUGS!), BrokenFaerie16, Hoey, KittyRin, blissedoutvixen, Zeeberg, Magic Crystal Rose, xExpectoxPatronumx, JaneDont, SailorMoon20114486, _and _37Guesses-1Truth_ for the reviews! You all inspire me!

**A/N:** I'm ALIVE! Who knew? I've had the first couple of sections written for _months_ but then just couldn't find any inspiration. UNTIL NOW. Please excuse the excessive use of caps. I'm in a very good mood at having _finally_ finished this chapter! (:

**RECAP:** James gives Rita an interview that he's going to regret. Walburga Black tells her sons to join Voldemort. Marlene is shallow and insecure. Logan Barber gets kidnapped by Death Eaters and Auror Octavian Conrad comes to Hogwarts to question students about the disappearance. Elvira, the Divination professor, predicts both love and tragedy for Alice. Jethro Bones, the Minister for Magic, faces an adultery scandal. Vanessa used to date Caradoc Dearborn, but he broke her heart. Lily and Severus find James, Sirius, and Peter in the forbidden forest, but instead of turning them in, Lily lies to McGonagall and Snape to protect them.

_"Sometimes it seems safer to hold it all in, where the only person who can judge is yourself." —_Sarah Dessen

**Chapter Four: Insomnia  
****(Monday, September 8, 1975)**

(Red & Black)

_Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar._

The word beat over and over again in Lily's head until she wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, as if doing so would somehow drown out her own conscience.

_Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. LIAR. _

The young witch groaned quietly and sat up in bed, pushing her long hair out of her face. The watch on her nightstand claimed that it was nearing two in the morning, and Lily had not slept all night. After a moment's deliberation, she decided that attempting to sleep would only prove to be in vain, so she crawled out of bed and wrapped a dressing gown around herself before tiptoeing down to the common room. She was wondering if a trip to the kitchen would effectively distract her when a soft sigh caught her attention. Looking around the starlit room, Lily found a familiar silhouette outlined on the window seat.

"Alice?" she whispered, unsure of her friend's state of wakefulness.

The blonde jumped slightly and turned around. "What are you doing here, Lily?"

"Couldn't sleep. What are _you_ doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep," she repeated, gazing back out the window. "I can't stop thinking about what Elvira said."

_You will have great tragedy in your life, dear one._

Lily bit her lip and took a seat next to her friend. "Do you think she was right? Divination can be pretty sketchy."

"She's always been right before."

"I know." The redhead paused, thinking back to a similar conversation she had had not too long before. "But maybe the whole idea of Divination is wrong. Maybe Elvira…maybe she _can't_ be right about the big things because…because she's not supposed to be."

Alice turned from the window and looked up at her with big blue eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if we know what's going to happen… what's the point of living now?"

"So…are you saying that we shouldn't have taken Divination?" asked Alice, looking at Lily intently.

She shrugged. "Maybe I'm saying that Divination is just an obtuse brand of magic that is nothing more than shoddy guesswork. I know that you've always liked the class, but perhaps you're putting too much store in Elvira."

Alice bit her lip and ran a hand through her short spiky hair. Her thin shoulders straightened a bit, as if they had lost some of the weight upon them. "Maybe you're right, Lily. Maybe I've just…just built her up too much or something." She stopped and looked back out the window again. "So you really think I shouldn't be worried?"

"Definitely not," said Lily, perhaps with a bit too much surety. But all the same, she could not help but realize that—on the rare occasion in which he chose to be serious—James Potter could give decent advice.

The two girls sat together in silence for a moment before Alice turned back around quite suddenly, nearly tumbling out of the window seat as she did so. After righting herself, she gave Lily a penetrating look. "Why can't _you_ sleep?"

Lily sighed. She did not want to talk about her own problems, but she also knew that another outright lie would trouble her mind still further. So she compromised by saying, "I think a lot has been going on these last few days. It's all just been too much, I guess."

"Typical," Alice said with a grin. "You're more worried about other people than you are about yourself."

Lily gave her a weak smile, a knot forming in her stomach. _That_ certainly was not true. "Well…I wouldn't say that—"

"And modest, too," Alice laughed. "Don't stress so much. I'm sure Williamson and Conrad will find that missing boy. And Nessa just needs some time to get over Caradoc. She'll be back to herself soon, okay?"

"Right," Lily agreed, avoiding her friend's eyes. In truth, she had hardly given a thought to the aurors in the castle and she had entirely forgotten about Vanessa's boy troubles in the face of her own problems.

"Well, I think I'll go to bed," said the blonde, standing and stretching. "Are you coming?"

"I'll be along in a bit," Lily told her.

Alice nodded and disappeared up the staircase.

Silence.

The fact of the matter was, in truth, that Petunia was not the only selfish member of the Evans family, she was simply more obvious about it. Lily was selfish too, in her own way. She preferred to fold in on herself and rely solely on her own mind and ideas rather than share her thoughts and problems with others. She was too self-reliant, and though she knew that it caused her to have a narrow-minded view of things, Lily also found that it was nearly impossible to fully open up to anyone. Doing so was to allow someone else to have a part of herself, and when that happened, she could no longer protect it.

That was a (very, very) small part of why James Potter got under her skin so badly. He saw that selfishness more clearly than most people, and shed an ugly, unflattering light upon it. If given the choice, Lily would pretend that that part of her personality did not exist, but James always managed to reveal the harsh reality.

She groaned.

"So what's _really _bothering you, Red?"

Lily jumped as Sirius Black appeared from the shadows. Without invitation, he strolled over and sprawled out in Alice's recently vacated spot at the window.

"First of all, don't sneak up on me like that," she told him. "Second of all, don't call me Red."

"What's wrong with Red?"

"It's highly unoriginal."

"I didn't know you cared about my creativity."

"I don't. I'd just rather not share a nickname with every other redhead in existence."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll come up with something better."

Sirius then reached into the pocket of his school trousers (why he was wearing them at two in the morning, Lily could not imagine), and drew out his wand and a cigarette. Using the former to light the latter, he began a new train of thought, "James'll be pleased to hear that you actually listened to something he said."

"What are you talking about? And you can't smoke in here, Black; it'll stink up the whole Common Room."

"First of all," Sirius said, taking a drag, "don't tell me what to do. Second of all, don't call me Black."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Highly unoriginal."

She sighed. "I'm serious though, you can't—"

"Are you really? All along I was under the impression that _I_ was Sirius."

Lily pinched the bridge of her nose in aggravation. "Twenty-three."

"What?"

"That's how many times I've heard you use that joke—twenty-three."

"Then you don't hang around me very often."

"You're impossible."

"It's a gift."

"_Anyway_, I mean it. If you don't put out that cigarette I'm going to have to dock points." Lily crossed her arms and glared at him, hoping to show him that she was, in fact, serious.

"Lighten up, Flower," Sirius insisted, holding the object in question between his teeth as he rummaged in his pockets for something. "If you want one, I've got another here somewhere…"

"Flower isn't any good. That's what my dad calls my sister. And I _don't_ want one, thank you." In truth, she dealt with quite enough smoke back in Lantern City.

Sirius shrugged. "Suit yourself. Now, back to the topic at hand—James."

"What?" asked Lily, looking bewildered. "We weren't talking about Potter, we were talking about—"

"How you used something he said to make Blondie feel better."

"Blondie? Really? Now you're just insulting your own imagination."

"Don't change the subject, Legs—"

"Absolutely not."

"—You told her that we shouldn't know what's supposed to happen because then there would be no point to the here and now."

Lily felt her heartbeat speed up just slightly. It didn't _really_ matter if she had quoted James Potter, but the fact that Sirius Black possessed that information was not something she would have wished for.

"So you were eavesdropping _twice_?" she said, in the hope to redirect the subject of the conversation. "You really need to find a new hobby, Black."

"You're trying to distract me."

"Pretty much."

"It's not working."

"Yeah, it kind of is."

"_Regardless_, James will be happy to hear about this."

"Why?" asked Lily, pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them. "He hates me."

Sirius shook his head. "James doesn't really hate anyone—except maybe a few people in Slytherin. He doesn't particularly _like_ you, but any guy likes to hear that a pretty girl listens to what they have to say."

"If you're trying to flatter me—"

"I don't need flattery to get what I want, love."

"No, Black."

"I'll think of a good one eventually. Though I'm rather put out that you're not working as hard at this as I am."

"Black is your name."

"And Red is _your_ name."

"You're joking, right?"

"Oh, no, I'm Sirius."

"Twenty-four," Lily said wearily, before she realized something. She lifted her head from where she had buried it in her arms. "Sirius…you were in the forest yesterday."

"What? No I—"

"With Peter and James—yes you were!"

"Shhh!" he hissed finally, putting a hand over her mouth. Her accusation had been quite exuberant. "Good Godric, Freckles, do you want the whole castle to hear you?"

Lily drew away from him and narrowed her eyes. "Maybe I do. I guess it depends on what it is you were doing there."

"No objection to Freckles, hmm? Though I'm not sure I really—"

"Sirius!"

"Shh!"

"What were you doing in the forest?" she repeated in a harsh whisper. "And don't try to change the subject."

"Why does it matter so much?"

Lily paused, her mind racing. She couldn't tell him that she had lied to McGonagall to protect him and his friends. He would never take her seriously again, and he would surely tell James, which could lead to a whole other series of problems.

"Because I'm a Prefect," she said instead. "And I don't want to have to report you so I hope that you have a good reason for being there."

"Do you care about the House Cup at _all_, Evans?" Sirius retorted, looking angry. "I know you're a brownnoser and everything, but can't you show just a little House loyalty here?"

"I have plenty of House loyalty," the redhead shot back. "But when I've got _you _in my House, it makes it difficult."

"Remus hasn't had a problem."

"He turns a blind eye!"

"Well do that then!"

"Will you two shut up already? You're giving me a migraine."

Lily and Sirius spun around to see none other than James Potter emerging from the portrait hole. He had bags under his eyes but a grin on his face.

"What are you doing, Potter? It's two in the morning! You could get into serious trouble!"

"_Shh!_" The two boys whispered.

"Don't report me, Evans," said James, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's not like I'm hurting anyone."

"The curfew is for your own safety," Lily lowered her voice, but she could still feel her face heating up in anger. She was _trying_ to do the right thing, and James and Sirius were making it much more stressful than it should have been.

"Then it's my own neck I'm risking by being out of bed. It has nothing to do with Gryffindor."

"Even so," she pressed on firmly, moving to stand between the boys and their staircase. "Voldemort and his followers are out there. You've heard what they do to people."

"Really, Evans, we're perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"Not when you're in the Forbidden Forest!"

"_You told her_?" James hissed at Sirius, his hazel eyes blazing behind his glasses.

"_No!_" Sirius insisted. "How stupid do you think I am? She saw us."

"In the forest?" asked James, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. They then lowered into a look of suspicion as he rounded on Lily. "What were you doing in the forest?"

"_Nothing_," Lily insisted. "I heard voices and I—"

"Of course," James snapped. "The prefect had to go snooping. Hoping to get someone into trouble?"

_Saving your sorry arse is more like it, _she thought before saying sardonically, "_Yes_, Potter. That's _exactly _what my goal was when I decided to go into the forest. It had _nothing_ to do with the fact that maybe some first year had gotten lost or that someone might be in trouble. I simply _live_ to dock points from everyone who might make the slightest mistake."

"Just like the only _possible _reason for me to be in the forest or out of bed is to pull a prank or do something stupid."

"Well, based on your track record…"

They glared at each other for a moment. It was fairly dark in the Common Room and Lily could only see him in the moonlight shining through the window. It glinted off his glasses and made it difficult to read his expression, but she had a feeling that it was similar to her own.

Finally: "You're infuriating. _Both_ of you," Lily told the boys. "Just—just get to bed before I change my mind about reporting you."

She moved out of the way and pointed up their staircase. James and Sirius shared a look, as if silently arguing. Soon though, they seemed to think it best to end the conversation there, and stalked past Lily.

"I want to believe you, you know," she said softly as they started up the stairs. They turned and gave her questioning looks. "About the forest—that you're not doing something stupid and dangerous. I want to believe that…so just…just don't give me a reason not to."

"Whatever you say, Red." Sirius winked and turned back toward the staircase with James.

"Black!"

"I know, I know," he replied with his signature bark-like laugh. "I'll think of something _eventually._"

(Perspective)

In another part of the castle, another student was dealing with his own insomnia.

"_Go to sleep, Ed_," Derek Greene implored his roommate. "You've been tossing and turning for _hours._"

"Sorry," whispered Edgar Bones as he shifted yet again.

"Go to the nurse and get a sleeping potion or something." Caradoc's voice came from Edgar's left. "You're driving us mad."

"All right, all right," Edgar sighed, pulling himself into a sitting position and then opening his curtains. The three boys that shared the room with him still had their own hangings shut, but he knew them well enough to know that they would not complain unless he was really being an annoyance.

Without bothering to search for his shoes, the fifteen-year old shoved his wand into the pocket of the shorts he slept in and trudged down the staircase that led from the boys' dormitory to the Ravenclaw Common Room. The large, arching windows let in a flood of moonlight that cast the room in a peaceful blue-white glow, but Edgar hardly spared it a look. Instead, he crossed to the large door, pushed it open, and made his way down the winding tower staircase and into the west wing of the castle.

Edgar knew that, as a prefect, he should not be breaking the rules and sneaking out of bed after hours, but putting things in perspective, he decided that the curfew was rather unimportant. His feet carried him toward the front of the school and up the spiral stone steps that led to the castle's highest point—the out-of-bounds astronomy tower.

Without pausing in the tower itself, Edgar strode out onto the ramparts and sat down against the low stone wall. From this vantage point, he could see the entire campus and most of Hogsmeade Village, but more importantly, he was completely alone.

Twelve days. He had twelve days to come up with the words to save his father's job as Minister for Magic, and he did not have the faintest idea of where to begin. Of course, Edgar was not naïve enough to believe that his speech alone could save his father. It was really going to be based upon how many members of the Wizengamot decided that personal affairs have nothing to do with Jethro Bones' decisions as Minister.

However, Edgar had said nothing the first time his father's integrity had been called into question, and he had regretted it ever since. He was determined to try to make a difference this time.

And to top it off, he was dreading the arrival of each _Daily Prophet_, wondering which one would contain his interview with Rita Skeeter.

Of course, his father had been Minister since Edgar was eight years old, and the Bones family had been in politics since before Edgar was born, so the young wizard was well-trained in dealing with the press. But Rita had been different. She had asked him questions that dealt with things no one outside of his family even knew about, yet somehow she continued to bring them up and catch him off-guard.

The most troubling question had been: "How do you forgive your father for something like this?"

Edgar had no idea.

He had been brought up being taught that his family was different. They couldn't do the same things as other families because they had his father's career to worry about. He had never really bonded with his father as a child, but he had always done everything he could to ensure that Minister Bones was able to maintain his position.

Jethro Bones was a good Minister; there was no doubt about that. He did what was best for the people as a whole, but his family always seemed to be left behind. Edgar had made his peace with that years before.

But infidelity was wrong.

It was _wrong._ And his own mother had been the victim of it. Looking at it that way made it much more difficult for Edgar to simply brush it off and say that it didn't matter because his father _was a good Minister._

The young wizard groaned and leaned his head back against the cool stone of the rampart. The endless sky was clear, and out away from Muggle cities and towns he could see millions of stars stretching on forever.

That was the reason he chose this spot.

Perspective.

(Gryffindor)

"Pete, hey, _Pete_," James whispered, shaking his friend awake. The Gryffindor boys' dormitory was otherwise silent (it _was_ two in the morning, after all).

Remus was sound asleep, and his quiet snores could be heard through his curtains. James and Sirius hoped to keep it that way.

"Wha-?" began Peter, sitting up and blinking sleepily. "What're you doing?"

The other two grinned triumphantly.

"We've been out in the forest," Sirius explained, indicating his fully-dressed state.

"Practicing," continued James.

"And we did it."

Peter stared at them for a moment before a smile spread across his pointed features. "_Wicked_."

"Get up," ordered James, rummaging through the clothing that was scattered across the floor until he found a pair of the smaller boy's trousers. He tossed them to Peter, who pulled them on hastily. "We have to show you."

"Is it difficult?" Peter asked as the three quietly made their way back into the Common Room.

James sighed in relief—Lily must have gone back to bed. He pulled his Invisibility Cloak from where he had quickly stuffed it inside his jacket when he had returned to the Common Room earlier that night, and proceeded to cover the three of them. Having grown so much over the summer, they had to stoop rather low to keep their feet from being seen, but they managed.

"Not as difficult as it's been," whispered Sirius.

"Who's there?" the Fat Lady called sleepily as they swung open the portrait hole and tiptoed through the corridor.

The three wizards made it outside without any trouble and were soon rushing through the forest to their familiar clearing.

"Right," said Peter, folding the Cloak and placing it inside the tree they had hollowed out for that very purpose. "Let's see this, then."

James looked at Sirius, who nodded, and the two boys took several steps backward. He closed his eyes tightly, blocking out the trees and the moon and everything around him. The books said that transforming would become as natural as breathing, but James had yet to reach that point and it still took full concentration.

It was a simple process, in truth. All one had to do was envision themselves as their animal (the process of _determining _one's animal was much more complex), and silently repeat a series of incantations.

Beat.

Deep breath.

It hurt. It felt as though the bones in his body were breaking and stretching and moving (which is exactly what they were doing), and the fur that was erupting everywhere prickled and itched. But it was worth it.

He opened his eyes to see a shaggy black dog grinning and trotting over to Peter, who looked as though Christmas had come early.

"This…this is…_brilliant,_" whispered Peter, looking back and forth between his friends. "You just managed tonight, did you?"

James nodded, but the unfamiliar weight of his antlers made the task difficult. Unsteadily, he walked over to the others.

Peter's face was lit up with excitement. "You_ have_ to teach me how to do this."

So they did.

Once upon a time, there were four boys. These four boys had nothing in common save for the fact that on September 1, 1971, they all put on a hat and it shouted a single word: _GRYFFINDOR!_

Since that night, many similarities had been discovered, ranging from a certain loathing of cranberry sauce to a love of mischief and mayhem.

But there was one thing that they would never have in common.

The most reserved of the boys had a secret. A secret that—to most members of the wizarding community—would label that boy as a freak and an outcast, and if he could help it, he would ensure that none of the other boys ever had to deal with the same problem.

Because Remus Lupin was a werewolf. And a good friend.

But the other three boys were clever, and after knowing Remus for only a year, they had him figured out. Rather than going to the Headmaster and demanding that the monster be removed from the school, they did something that—to Remus, at least—was even more unthinkable. They became his friends.

Not that they hadn't already been friends, but Remus had always kept to himself. After their discovery, they would not allow him to do so.

One of the other boys—who had the (rarely used) ability to be wise beyond his years—had said something Remus would never forget.

_You can't hide from everyone forever, mate. It'll just make you bitter and then you might end up resenting other wizards. You don't want that._

And he was right. Remus did _not _want to end up like the werewolf who had bitten him when he was little. He had been a man that attacked people for fun and for money. That was _not_ how Remus wanted his life to turn out.

And the three boys with nothing to base a friendship upon but a single word from a hat—they had saved him.

"So how do we tell Remus?"

The three boys trudged wearily out of the forest as the sun began to peek out over the line of the mountains. They had done it. It had taken all night (and many years), but James, Sirius, and Peter were Animagi.

"He won't take it well," Sirius said in answer to Peter's question. "I vote that we just show up in the Shack at the next full moon."

"He'd hate us," replied James, draping the Cloak over them as they crossed the dewy grounds. "He'd never forgive us."

"But he'll never approve of this whether we tell him about it or not," argued Sirius. "We're going to have to prove to him that we'll be all right."

"I think Sirius is right," Peter supplied. "Remus _will_ hate us for it, but we'll show him that we can handle it. Then he won't have a valid objection for the next time."

They reached the castle and slipped inside the now-open front doors. Few people were at breakfast this early, so it was not difficult to duck behind a statue in the Entrance Hall and take off the cloak. They then strolled into the Great Hall and took seats at their usual place at the Gryffindor table.

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair, removing a few stray leaves. "I don't like it, any of it. But for now it looks like the only workable plan."

"So…more practice?" Sirius confirmed.

"More practice," agreed James. "_After_ I've had a nap."

(The Pact)

"You don't look so good," Alice commented as Vanessa joined her at the bathroom mirror.

The brunette shrugged and began dragging a brush through her hair half-heartedly. "I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Yeah, that seems to be going around."

After brushing her teeth, Vanessa smeared a thick layer of foundation under her eyes in an attempt to cover the insistent bags.

"Is it Doc?" Alice asked at length, avoiding her taller friend's glare.

Vanessa was getting rather tired of people being able to read her so easily. But what else could it have been? _Of course_ it was Caradoc Dearborn who was troubling her. He'd been troubling her for months.

"I've _got _to get over him," Vanessa said, both in confirmation to Alice's question, and as an order to herself.

"You know what?" Alice began, putting down the mascara that she had been meticulously applying and turning to the other girl. "It's been a while since either of us has really just flirted and had fun. You were with Doc for so long, and I've been so hung up on Fabian Prewett—_that _was only ever going to be a fantasy—that we haven't gone on a real date in _ages._"

"What are you saying?" Vanessa asked, looking down at the blonde witch skeptically.

Alice grinned. "I'm making a deal with you."

"Which is…?"

"We're both going to have dates for the next Hogsmeade weekend."

"That's twelve days from now."

"Plenty of time."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Alice squared her shoulders and gave Vanessa a stern look. "_Yes,_" she insisted. "It'll help you get over Caradoc once and for all. He doesn't deserve to have such an influence on you."

"I guess when you put it that way…" Vanessa trailed off, considering Alice's suggestion. Finally, she held out a hand for her friend to shake. "Deal."

"Deal."

"Should we wake Lily?"

"Godric! We should have done that fifteen minutes ago! She'll _kill_ us!"

"What's your range on _Aquamenti_?"

"Reese, I like that way you think."

(Headlines)

Lily, fortunately, did _not _kill them, even though waking up by being drenched and hearing her friends laughing manically as they ran down the staircase had not been the best way to start the day.

The three girls sat down together at breakfast and it was not long before an owl arrived with _The Daily Prophet._

"Oh no," Vanessa muttered as she unfolded the first page. She gave Lily and Alice a worried look and spread the paper out so they could see.

**BONES CHILDREN SPEAK UP: FATHER SHOULD BE REPLACED**

_Rita Skeeter, 24, recently conducted interviews with the children of current Minister for Magic, Jethro Bones. Amelia, 19, was eager to defend her father, until the question of morality was addressed._

"_It was…wrong of my dad to do what he did," she admitted, tears welling in her sparkling green eyes. "He…" she paused here, in a failed attempt to compose herself. "He cheated on my _mum_. It's not just some other family anymore. It happened to us. Twice now. I just… I can't…"_

_Skeeter then posed the question: _If someone does something morally wrong—repeatedly—should someone else be able to trust their judgment?

"_He's my _dad._ But…I can't."_

_Edgar, 15, who is currently a fifth-year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, provided similar answers._

Can you forgive your father for such treachery?

"_I don't think so. Our family…can't…get through this again." His own eyes, so like his sister's, shared her grief._

_Edgar spoke about how difficult it was to move on after his father's first act of infidelity—almost one year ago: "It's…just reopening the wound. How can you expect me…to forgive him?"_

_Whether a voting member of the Wizengamot, or a member of the magical community, one must wonder—If his own children no longer trust him, how can anyone else?_

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Vanessa scanning the Ravenclaw table. The redhead turned as well, just in time to see Edgar Bones crush the paper in his hand and stalk out of the Great Hall. His friends exchanged glances before getting up to follow.

"That woman is a _leech_," Vanessa spat venomously. "A lying, conniving leech."

"Um, Vanessa? Lily?" Alice piped up, turning to another page of the paper. "It gets worse."

"How?" The other two asked together.

Alice scanned the article she was looking at quickly before sighing and closing her eyes. When she opened them again, her expression was torn between fear and sadness. "There's been another attack. Just like with Logan Barber."

Lily's hand shot to her mouth as it opened in horror, and Vanessa gasped, "What? Who?"

"Muggles," said Alice. "Two of them…in Devon. They were both killed and…oh…how _awful_."

"What?"

"A couple—a witch and wizard—were nearby and tried to help. The Death Eaters grabbed them and Disapparated. No one knows where they went, but they left behind the mark again."

"Are they…I mean…Did we know them?" Vanessa asked quietly.

Alice shook her head. "I don't think so. Simon and Tracy Galahad?"

"Still," said Lily sadly after she and Vanessa stated that they did not know the couple. "_Someone_ knew them."

(Beginning)

There was an old rumor among Hogwarts students that the table between shelves K-M and N-P in the Runes section of the library was haunted by the ghost of Bayard Cornell (no one _actually_ knew who he was anymore), and said table was accordingly avoided.

However, that was precisely where she found him.

He wasn't reading or sleeping or studying or doing any of the normal things one does in a library. He was just sitting, sort of half-staring-half-glaring at the shelf across from him. A crumpled newspaper sat on the table, the source of his self-inflicted isolation.

She cleared her throat softly, and when he made no indication of having heard, she took a few steps out from behind the shelf that had previously been concealing her.

"Erm…Edgar?"

It was a moment before he answered, as if he first had to compose himself enough to be capable of forming words. He didn't look at her as he said it (in fact, he had his back to her), but he muttered a "Yes?" nonetheless.

"Um…could I join you?"

"If you must."

"Right," she stated awkwardly, making her way around the table and taking a seat across from him. "Right," she repeated as she bit her lip and brushed her black hair from her face. "I'm Marlene. Marlene McKinnon. I've been following your dad's story in the papers and magazines and the wireless and everything."

Edgar's eyes moved from the bookcase to her, and Marlene felt her face go red. He was _very_ good looking. When he said nothing, Marlene continued, "I just wanted to say that I think it was really brave of you—to say those things in the article from this morning. I know he's your dad, but it's encouraging to know that you can see the difference—"

"Excuse me?" asked Edgar, his tone was harsh. "You can't honestly think that I said those things, can you?"

"Yes," said Marlene, looking confused. "Why? D'you think that people will think that Rita Skeeter made all of that up? Don't worry, Edgar, I've read enough of your interviews to know that it was you."

Edgar stared at her for a moment, and Marlene looked away. He seemed to be torn in some way or another, and when he finally spoke, he sounded somewhat defiant.

"Why are you here?"

Marlene was stunned. He sounded so rude! She had always thought of him as kind and smart and funny and _dreamy_. That was the way he looked in all the magazines. Of course, this was the first time she had ever plucked up the courage to actually talk to him, but still, she had always felt that she had known him somehow. She had certainly read about him enough.

"I just wanted to tell you that I admire the fact that you are willing to tell the Wizarding world that your dad is unfit for the position of Minister for Magic," she told him defensively, feeling more awkward than she had when she had first spoken.

"He is _not_ unfit," Edgar snapped. "He's one of the best Ministers that we've had in a long time, actually. But it's people like _you_ that make it seem like he's a horrible Minister—people who believe everything they hear or read and then blow it out of proportion. You don't stop to think about all of the good that he's done while in office."

Madam Pince, the strict librarian with a wart on her chin, appeared then, looking livid. "You are in a library!" she whispered furiously. "Stop talking!"

But Edgar, who seemed rather caught up in finally sharing something of what he really thought, ignored her. "My father has brought about great prosperity in the last seven years. He practically eradicated the tax on foreign imports, he re-organized the structure of the upper level Ministry to put more power in the hands of the people, and those very same people are about to vote him out. It's unjust!"

"Mr. Bones!"

"I've met too many people like you, Marlene. You're shallow and self-righteous and blind. Anyone who believes everything they read is bound to eventually be corrupted by it. The media exists to dramatize situations like this. It makes people passionate, but in all the wrong ways!"

Marlene's eyes were welling up with tears at this point. _How could anyone be so mean?_

"Obviously the media lies," she hissed back. "Everything I've ever read has made you out to be a really good person!"

"Miss McKinnon! Mr. Bones! I have heard _quite_ enough! Both of you—OUT!"

(...)

"And _that_ was how I got kicked out of the library," concluded Marlene.

The story had taken much longer than one would have expected—Lily was going to be dreadfully late to Potions—due to the fact that Marlene cried and hiccupped all the way through.

"I just…I never expected him to be so mean! _Witch Weekly_ always said he was a _dream._"

"You can't believe everything you read, Marlene," said Lily, in what she hoped was a consoling voice.

The two girls were sitting in the Common Room, the only other occupants of which were a few seventh-years with a free period. Lily was trying, as nicely as she could, to shake off Marlene (who had run to her sobbing about ten minutes prior) so that she could get to class.

"Yeah," sniffed Marlene. "Edgar made that _perfectly_ clear."

"Look," Lily sighed, putting a hand on the other girl's arm, "you'd never talked to Edgar before today, right?"

Marlene nodded.

"He's not your friend, or your boyfriend, or you brother, right?"

Another nod.

"Then stop letting him get to you! He shouldn't have such an effect on you. You don't have to care about his opinion at all. You've survived without him thus far."

Marlene wiped her teary eyes and smiled slightly. "You're right, Lily. You're right. He _shouldn't _have any effect on me at all. He's nobody."

"That's the spirit."

Quite suddenly, Marlene threw her arms around Lily, who was caught off-guard. "Thanks, Lils! You always know just what to say."

"Anytime, Mar. You know that," replied the redhead, returning the hug briefly before Marlene jumped up.

"Look at the time! Godric, I've got to run. I don't know how Professor Black deals with tardy people—wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" Lily called, but Marlene was already through the portrait hole.

She flopped back in the armchair and sighed, relishing the moment of peace. But Slughorn was waiting, so Lily picked up her bag from where she had dropped it earlier, pulled her messy hair into a bun (she had not had time to brush it yet), and followed Marlene out of the Common Room.

**(Tuesday, September 9, 1975)**

"I cannot _believe_ that the three of you skipped _all day_ yesterday to go to Hogsmeade! The whole school is going in two weeks!" Remus paced the dormitory angrily Tuesday morning after having to quite literally drag his friends from their beds due to exhaustion.

"True," said James, tiredly buttoning his shirt (not realizing he was a button off and would soon have to start over) and searching the room blindly for his glasses. "But it's no fun when the whole school is there, now is it?"

He hated lying to Remus, but they had decided not to tell him about becoming Animagi, so they definitely could not explain to him that they had missed their Monday classes in order to practice.

"You three are impossible," the werewolf sighed. "If you keep doing things like this, someone is going to find out, and then who knows how much trouble we'll all be in!"

Sirius grinned as he emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered with a towel slung over his shoulder. "Rule Number Eleven, mate."

"_Never get caught_," Remus stated. "But that's—"

"You know," said Peter, cutting him off, "shouldn't that be Rule Number One? It's pretty important."

"You're right," James agreed, finding his glasses at last under Peter's bedside table and examining his lopsided button-up in the mirror. "But the rules are in the order that Sirius thought of them, and he's not the sharpest person around."

Sirius looked as though he was about to argue, but Remus interjected. "You can't rely on the Cloak to keep you out of trouble! Nothing is infallible."

"That's why we started the map," said Peter reasonably. "It was _your_ idea to add everyone so that we could tell if a teacher was on to us."

"I know," Remus replied irritably, "but we haven't been able to make that work yet, have we?"

"Well, no, but I've been researching a few things in the library," Peter told the others. He reached under his bed and pulled out a dusty book and a carefully folded piece if parchment. He spread the latter out on the floor, revealing a carefully sketched skeleton of Hogwarts castle. Looking at the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, one could see four small dots, feebly shaking as they attempted to follow their real-life counterparts around the room.

"I've tried a few different animation spells," continued Peter, flipping through the book, "but I can't make them work. I marked them here and thought that maybe one of you would have more luck."

Remus took the book from Peter and put it in his bag. "I'll look over it at break," he told the shorter boy, "right now we need to get to breakfast. Defense starts in half an hour."

Sirius, who had flopped back down onto his bed as soon as he had reached it, groaned tiredly. "Five more minutes…" he mumbled, burying his face in his pillow.

"Oh honestly," Remus huffed. "What could you possibly have been doing in Hogsmeade to make you all this exhausted?"

James sent Sirius a look and did his best to look awake. "Sirius probably used all his energy fantasizing about Rosmerta," he laughed, standing and stretching. He threw his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the back of Sirius' shirt. "Come on you great sloth, breakfast is waiting."

With that, the two boys stumbled out of the room, followed by Peter and an exasperated, but slightly appeased, Remus.

(Superior)

"There is a witch whom no one listed at the start of term as being evil," said Professor Black, pacing the front of the classroom, her wand tapping lightly on her chin. "Not that I expected you to do so, she is hardly well-known."

"Who, Professor?" asked Olivia Montague almost immediately, and Bellatrix Black smiled crookedly.

"She inspired the image of Circe. A lesser Greek goddess," the witch hinted, stopping in the center of the room and surveying the class. When no one supplied the answer, Professor Black pressed, "What was Circe known for?"

Without looking up, Edgar Bones answered in a weary sort of way. "She captured Odysseus's men and turned them to pigs."

"Correct, Mr. Bones. The witch I speak of was called Arya Vanet, but she was more commonly known as Venobrood. Ring any bells?"

Lily raised her hand unsurely. "Was she the witch who hated men? She used her power to wage war against them and made them her slaves, right?"

Bellatrix Black smiled. "Precisely, Miss Evans."

"Sounds like my kind of girl," joked Mary, and the females in the room snickered appreciatively. Derek Greene, Mary's boyfriend, shot her a look and she winked at him.

"With those around you," Professor Black instructed, "please discuss the good and bad sides of Venobrood's way of thinking."

Lily and James turned their seats around to face their usual group—Olivia Montague and Edgar Bones.

"A good side would be that she had the advantage of number," Olivia began immediately, already scratching furiously on her parchment. "It's a well-known fact that there were more women than men back in those times."

"Yeah?" asked James, while Lily shot the other girl a raised eyebrow. "How d'you figure?"

"The men were always dying in battle," stated Olivia, as though it was something anyone should be able to reason.

"So you think that all women were crazy enough to listen to her and follow her?"

"I don't think she was crazy at all. Women are the intellectually superior of the genders, right Lily?"

"Er…"

"Way to prove a point, Evans," James grinned.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't think that it's right to say one way or the other that a certain sex is superior. Obviously you need both to continue the population."

"Hmm," muttered Olivia, "I suppose we'll add that to the Con side."

"How different is she from Voldemort, really?" asked Edgar, seeming only half-interested in the conversation. "She—"

"It's unwise to speak his name, Mr. Bones," said Professor Black suddenly, appearing beside him. "Names are powerful things."

"Right," said Edgar, sounding unconvinced, but continued, "anyway, Venobrood _wasn't_ that different from Vo—I mean, You-Know-Who," he corrected, using the moniker that had started cropping up in place of Lord Voldemort's name. "She was a powerful witch with a prejudice, the only difference is what they are prejudiced against."

"Men or Muggles," added Lily, "either way, it's brainless violence that does nothing to further the human race."

"Perhaps," Olivia said, tapping her quill thoughtfully on the parchment, "but just imagine a world ruled by women."

"Just imagine a world ruled by Purebloods," Edgar told her coldly.

"It's different."

"It's not," insisted Lily, silently wondering how anyone so smart could be so thick. "No matter which is considered the 'ruling class,' both situations call for a certain group of people proclaiming themselves as better, and causing a lot of pain to insure that they maintain power. Any ruler that does that to his people is not fit to lead."

"Are you implying something about my father?" hissed Edgar, and Lily was taken aback as his sudden defensiveness. Olivia and James stared at him for a moment before turning their gazes to her.

"Not intentionally," Lily assured him, knowing that he was still upset about the article from the day before. "The only way that I could be implying something is if there was something there to imply in the first place. Minister Bones hasn't hurt me in any way, but I'm not the only person in the Wizarding world. It doesn't matter who it is, me or you or anyone, if he's caused someone pain then maybe—"

"Maybe what? No Minister can make everyone happy. That's not possible."

Lily sighed. He was right, after all. "I know," she said, biting her lip. "I'm sorry. It's really not my business, is it?"

James was giving her a funny look, but before she could tell him to sod off, Professor Black called everyone's attention back to the front of the room and the discussion ended there.

(Cousins)

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, but before Sirius could leave with his friends, a hand held him back.

"A word, cousin," said Bellatrix, and Sirius waved James out the door.

Once they were alone, Sirius leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest nonchalantly. "What's this all about?"

"I suspect Walburga will be writing to you and your brother soon," she explained. "She'll tell you to stay away from me."

"You think I do everything she tells me to?"

"Of course not. But I don't want Regulus avoiding me. We're family. I want you both to meet me at noon on Saturday in the Three Broomsticks. I just want to make sure that there is no ill-will between us."

"A drink with my baby brother?" asked Sirius, making for the door. "Sounds like a brilliant time."

"Just be there," hissed Bellatrix, and there was something in her tone that made Sirius agree.

(Voices)

"_All students should report to the Great Hall immediately,"_ McGonagall's voice carried over the loud speaker as break began. "_Professor Dumbledore has an important announcement to make."_

Lily, who was already half-way back to the Gryffindor Common Room to retrieve her Divination textbook, and therefore miles away from the Great Hall, decided that she was going to miss the announcement one way or another, so she continued on her course for the dormitory instead.

It did not take long for the young witch to dash through the portrait hole, find the desired book, and return to the hallway, but she found the school to be eerily deserted once the fat lady swung shut behind her.

_I'm being silly._ She thought to herself after jumping when a suit of armor nearby reached up to scratch its nose. _There's no reason to be paranoid._

Hushed voices from around the corner told her otherwise.

"But Hogsmeade—"

"I know, you idiot! Shut up and let me think."

"It's too late, we've already—"

"_Silencio!"_

Lily could hear the muffled sound of someone stomping their foot in frustration while someone else paced anxiously up and down the corridor. She inched closer, attempting to make out the quiet words that the pacer was muttering to himself, but as she did so, the armor behind her creaked into a different position.

The muttering stopped.

Lily froze.

"Relax," said the second voice, seeming to have been released from the Silencing spell. "It was probably just a suit of armor or something. Everyone's down in the Great Hall."

Lily almost breathed a sigh of relief, until she found herself face-to-face with Wyatt Avery.

(Missing)

"Do you see Lily anywhere?" Alice asked worriedly, craning her neck to look down the long Gryffindor house table. "It's not like her to miss something like this."

Vanessa, too, checked all the people with whom Lily might be sitting, but the redhead was nowhere to be found.

"May I have your attention, please?" Dumbledore spoke from his usual place at the front of the hall. "Due to the recent attack by the Death Eaters, the Aurors that were stationed within the walls of Hogwarts must now leave and move on to another case. Let us hope their work not to be in vein."

Alice and Vanessa exchanged looks. No one particularly liked Octavian Conrad or his men, but they had still given the school an extra sense of security that everyone had gladly accepted in the growing darkness.

"However," continued Dumbledore, "the Ministry has seen fit to send a group of Hit-Wizards and Aurors-In-Training to patrol the school, simply as an added precaution. I must ask you all to give these men your respect, and listen to them as you would myself or any of the staff."

"If Death Eaters can get into Hogwarts," Vanessa whispered as everyone began to gather their things, "I doubt a few trainees will be able to stop them."

Alice bit her lip and said nothing. It wasn't something that she wanted to think about.

(Hero)

"Well, well, well," said Avery, his voice an amused drawl. "What have we here? An eavesdropping little Mudblood?"

Hirum Wilkes, Avery's companion, snickered appreciatively.

Lily did her best to look defiant, but the dirty name had hurt. She had always tried to give Slytherins the benefit of the doubt—for Sev's sake—but Avery was cruel.

"What should we do with her, Wilkes?" asked Avery, a devilish grin forming on his face. "We haven't had must practice with the Unforgivable curses."

Lily pulled her wand out of her pocket, but Avery just gave her a mocking look. "What do you think you're going to do, Mudblood? Stun us? Petrify us? We've got you outnumbered," he raised his wand, pressing it against her throat. "You don't stand a chance."

"Physically you might outnumber me," said Lily, surprised at the steadiness in her voice, "but mentally, I've got you beat ten-to-one."

"How dare you? _Cru_—"

"_Stupify!_"

Avery was suddenly thrown to the ground, stunned, his eyes shut and his wand rolling uselessly down the hallway.

But Lily hadn't cast the spell.

She looked to the right and saw a tall wizard hardly older than herself marching toward them with his wand drawn, a concentrated expression on his face. Wilkes took one look at him and fled the scene, leaving Avery to his own devices.

When the man was closer, Lily noticed the A.I.T. badge gleaming on the front of his maroon-coloured robes.

"Thanks," she said, gratefully taking the books that he had picked up for her (though she couldn't quite remember dropping them).

"Of course," he said with a bright smile, and Lily could not help but smile back. He was good-looking. He seemed mature, even though she knew that he could not be older than eighteen.

"So…Auror-In-Training, huh?" she asked, nodding to his badge to avoid his brilliant blue eyes. "What's an A.I.T. doing in Hogwarts? Not that I'm not glad you're here!" she added hastily, blushing slightly. "You really saved me back there."

"I guess you weren't in the Great Hall a few minutes ago," he reasoned, walking with her back down the corridor. "Some of the A.I.T.s were sent here as protection because Conrad's team has to take the newest disappearance case. No one in the DMLE can afford to linger too long on one attack anymore, and there just aren't enough fully-trained Aurors to send to Hogwarts right now."

Lily nodded, and opened her mouth to thank him again, when another man, probably in his early twenties, ran up to the two of them.

"Oh! There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" he said to Lily's savior. "Come on, there's an A.I.T. meeting in the Staff Lounge!"

"All right, all right, calm down Huntley, _Merlin_." He flashed another smile at Lily. "I have to go, but it was nice meeting you."

"Same to you," Lily grinned. "And thanks again."

He winked, and the two men hurried back down the corridor.

Lily leaned against the wall let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "_Wow."_

* * *

I really hope that it was worth the wait! There isn't enough LilyJames interaction, in my opinion, but this chapter was kind of a filler to get some stuff out of the way before the Hogsmeade trip/Minister Bones' trial in the next chapter. (:

Anyway, in case I don't update before the DH2 premier, I just want to say that I hope the journey ends well for everyone, and I'm grateful that fanfiction will still be here even once the movies are over.

See you on the other side.

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Love Always,  
****Kayla**

_"I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead." __—_City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare


	5. Getting Older

**A/N: **So those of you that follow me on Tumblr have been slightly more in-the-know about updates and such on this chapter, but really I had no idea when it would be out. I've just finished my first semester of college and life is a bit crazy right now. But here it is! I hope you enjoy!

**RECAP: **James gives Rita an interview that he's going to regret. Walburga Black tells her sons to join Voldemort and stay away from Bellatrix, who is the DADA teacher at Hogwarts. James, Sirius, and Peter finally managed to become Animagi and plan to accompany Remus on the next full moon. Jethro Bones is Minister for Magic and is going on trial for committing adultery. Edgar Bones is conflicted about the whole matter and is speaking at the trial. Edgar yelled at Marlene for being shallow, but Marlene really likes Edgar. James has decided that Lily is attractive, but still does not fully understand his feelings for her.

_Friendship is held to be the severest test of character._  
—_Charles Alexander Eastman_

**Chapter Five: Getting Older**

(Saturday, September 20, 1975)

"Fuck."

The grounds were quiet around them as the full moon gleamed over the top of the Forbidden Forest. The three boys sat under an old beech tree on the far side of the Black Lake, far from any wandering eyes.

"That's a pretty accurate summation of the last twenty-four hours, yeah," agreed Peter, nursing a large cut on his forehead.

James, who had uttered the explicative, ran a hand through his hair in frustration as he pulled off his ruined shirt.

"_Fuck."_

_13 Hours Earlier_

"Spencer McKinnon does _not_ fancy me!" Lily protested for the tenth time that morning, but a small smile crossed her face as she said it.

"But it's true!" insisted Mary, linking arms with the redhead as the two girls made their way down the sloping grounds toward Hogsmeade. "I heard it from Marian Bruce!"

Lily gave the other witch a skeptical look. "How does Marian Bruce factor into this?"

Mary sighed in a world-weary sort of way. As a well-versed member of the Hogwarts gossip chain, Mary often forgot that others were never quite as in-the-know as she happened to be. "Marian Bruce is dating Fabian Prewett, who plays Quidditch with Spencer. He probably mentioned something in the locker room while Marian and Fabian were snogging in the showers!"

Lily decided not to point out the fact that Spencer McKinnon was probably the _last _thing on the minds of either Marian or Fabian in such a situation, and instead half-dragged Mary through the crowd of students and into the Three Broomsticks. "Well, even if Spencer _does_ fancy me, it means nothing unless he has the guts to act on it. Therefore, it's currently irrelevant and you and I are going to get a butterbeer and spend our time with the latest issue of _The Trendy Witch_. Alice got it in the mail this morning and it has a photo shoot with some of the guys from Puddlemore United."

"David Hunt?" gasped Mary, practically pushing a group of third years out of the way in her haste to find a table. "He was hand-crafted by the _gods_."

Lily laughed and pulled the magazine from her bag. "A truer statement has never been made. Here," she continued, handing it to her friend, "I'll go buy drinks. Try not to drool on it while I'm gone, yeah? I haven't looked at it yet."

"You're hilarious," said Mary, sticking out her tongue, but her grudge lasted only a moment as she was soon distracted by the three well-build Chasers on the front of the magazine.

Lily grinned and left for the bar, but her good mood diminished slightly as she able to hear the newscast issuing from the wireless.

"_The trial is set to begin in exactly one hour and fifty-seven minutes. Minister Bones and his supporters have not yet arrived, but a large group has already rallied in the Atrium of the Ministry building in support of Bartemius Crouch as the man to take over should Minister Bones be…"_

"Edgar's going to be there today."

The young witch jumped slightly at the unexpected voice from the bar. She turned to find Marlene McKinnon sipping a butterbeer and staring at the wireless with a look of infinite distaste. Lily sighed, glanced back at Mary, who was completely absorbed in the magazine, and took a seat next to Marlene.

"I thought you were done worrying about Edgar."

Marlene ran a hand through her long dark hair. She slouched slightly and seemed genuinely downtrodden. "I know. I meant to be, but haven't you ever had that one guy that you simply _can't_ stop worrying about? It's like he's always there in the back of your mind even when there are much more important things going on around you?"

"It sounds like a crush, Marlene," said Lily gently. "And not a very healthy one at that."

"You don't understand," the brunette insisted. She fixed Lily with a hard look that the latter was unprepared for, coming from the usually flippant Marlene. "I know what you're thinking—_oh it's just Marlene, she doesn't know how to feel anything more that a stupid crush._ But you're wrong. Edgar…I just care about him. Even after—or especially after—the other day in the library. He was so mean to me, but I could actually feel his pain, you know? That's never really happened before. I usually try to stay detached."

"Marlene—"

"_But_, I don't know what to do because he's so…unreachable to me," she confessed, her thin fingers tracing the rim of her mug. "It's like I'm here and he's always going to be on the other side of the wireless."

"Listen—"

"Besides," Marlene pressed on, ignoring Lily, "He thinks I'm 'shallow and self-righteous and blind.' I don't have a chance with him."

"_Marlene_," Lily said loudly, finally catching the younger girl's attention. "I know what it's like to fancy someone that much. I've been there too. But you have to be smart about this. If you just…throw yourself at him with reckless abandon he's never going to respect you. And who even knows if he's worth it? I know you really like him, but from what I've heard, he's been sort of awful to you."

"But he's not a bad person," insisted Marlene. "I've just caught him at a bad time, or—"

"_The Minister's son has just arrived at the Ministry. He's alone, escorted by a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. His mother and sister are said to be on the way…"_

Marlene, who had broken off when she had heard Edgar mentioned on the wireless, continued on a new vein. "What d'you suppose it's like, Lily? I mean…Edgar's dad did something terrible…but Edgar still has to side with him."

"He doesn't _have_ to side with him," stated the witch, though she too knew the pain of having such conflicted feelings over a family member. "At least, not by law or even moral code. I suppose that he loves his dad, though, and people will do just about anything for those they love."

"So he can't help but speak for his dad?"

"I don't know, Mar. I'm sure he has reasons for what he's doing, even if they aren't printed in the magazines."

"Speaking of, did you see Mary a moment ago? She took that magazine she was reading and all but sprinted out the door."

Lily glanced around to where she had left Mary earlier, but the table was now occupied with some burly Hufflepuff Quidditch players.

"Did you see where she went?" asked Lily, scanning the pub for signs of her friend. "I was going to get us drinks…we were supposed to go to Gladrags."

"Maybe she remembered an essay or something?"

"Perhaps," mumbled Lily. "Look, I've got to go find her and make sure everything's all right. I'll talk to you later."

Marlene nodded, and Lily gathered her purse before making her way through the crowd and out of the Three Broomsticks.

(In Which Mary Confronts James)

Mary Macdonald had never been the best at anything. She was not the smartest witch of her age, or the prettiest or kindest or funniest. She was decent at sketching, but not spectacular by any means. Her marks were average; her powers of persuasion were mediocre. Her singing voice was simply alright. She was fashionable, but never started trends, and she was not chosen first for pick-up games of Quidditch.

However, Mary Macdonald was a loyal witch who did all she could to protect her friends, and the moment she saw the headline of the article on page 21 of _The Trendy Witch_, Mary knew she had to act immediately.

The streets of Hogsmeade were packed, and Mary, who was certainly not the tallest witch in Hogwarts, was having serious difficultly finding her target. People were bumping into her from every direction, and Mary could hardly watch where she was going, much less search for a mess of black hair.

It was James Potter she sought out, so Mary pushed her way through the crowd toward Zonko's joke shop, which was a usual haunt for the four Gryffindor boys, and Mary felt a small sense of accomplishment when she wrenched open the door to the shop and saw James leaning casually against the counter while Peter seemed deep in conversation with the man behind it.

The brunette witch paused, took a deep breath, and marched up to the boy.

"James Potter, what in the name of Merlin were you_ thinking_?"

The wizard blinked and ran a hand through his hair, causing it to look even more windswept than before. "Beg your pardon?"

Mary held up the magazine. "_This_. There's an interview in here with you and you're simply awful about Lily! I know you two don't always see eye-to-eye, but this is _cruel_."

Quirking an eyebrow, James glanced at Peter, who shrugged and returned to his conversation with the Zonko's attendant. The taller boy then took the proffered magazine and flipped to the page Mary had marked.

_**JAMES POTTER: CHASER OF HEARTS**_

_Fifteen-year old James Potter, son of Thasos Potter—member of the International Confederation of Wizards, is the hottest thing to hit Hogwarts since Obadiah Ogden himself, _writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent_. With extraordinary Quidditch talent and looks that are to die for, Potter sits easily atop the social scene at school._

_That popularity naturally comes with its perks; however, Potter's latest squeeze is far from perky. Daughter of two Muggles from a dingy factory town in northern England, the plain and proper Lily Evans is nowhere near Potter's league. "I could have any girl I want, but Evans actually thinks I care about her," says Potter. "I don't know where the idea came from to begin with. She really has no redeeming qualities. She's rather high-and-mighty, you know? I just haven't been able to set her right because I feel bad for her. Blokes never really fancy her."_

_Evans, however, does not seem intelligent enough to understand this. "Lily's not nearly as smart as everyone seems to think she is," one student says. "I mean, how could she honestly believe that James Potter would ever fancy her? It's absurd. And if by some miracle he did like her, I definitely wouldn't put it past her to be using a Love Potion or something. Potions is the only things she's actually good at." Students advise Potter to beware Evans, just in case._

_So girls, keep your eyes open for this one. It's more than rumor that he'll be available sooner than you can say 'Quidditch.'_

Mary watched as James read the article, his furrowed eyebrows and deepening frown displaying that something was not quite right.

"I never said that…any of it," he said at length, running his hand through his hair in confusion. "I talked to that Skeeter witch a few days ago, but it was mostly about Quidditch. I never—"

"She can't just put words in your mouth, James," Mary insisted, crossing her arms over her chest. "She's a reporter, she has to tell the truth."

"You're wrong," said James, glancing back at the article with distaste. "Most reporters these days tell anything but the truth. They just want whatever makes the better story."

Mary briefly studied his face, knowing he was probably right.

"Lily will take some convincing, you know," she told him. "You might want to talk to her _before_ someone else tells her about the article."

James snorted. "It doesn't matter what I say or when I say it, she's just going to blow up on me."

"Good thing you can take it, huh?" Mary grinned. "Just…try to be nice to her without seeming flirtatious or like you have ulterior motives."

Peter, who had finished his conversation, began to laugh. "Have you _met_ James?"

"_Yes_," the witch insisted. "And he can be sweet. Rarely and usually when there's something in it for him, but it's been known to happen."

"You have no faith in me," James said to Peter. "And you, Macdonald, _you_ have too much faith in Lily's ability to forgive me anything."

Mary shrugged. "Perhaps, but _you_, James Potter, need to have more faith in yourself and in Lily. You might be surprised."

James gave her a skeptical look, but said nothing. Mary turned to go, catching a glimpse of him running a hand through his hair and pulling something out of the pocket of his robes as he did so.

(Waiting for My Chance To Come)

Sirius did not know what to tell his best mate. He sat alone at a table in the back of the Three Broomsticks, waiting for Bellatrix and his brother to meet him. James had called him through the two-way mirrors the boys had been given for Christmas the previous year from Mr. Potter, uneasy about some article in a magazine for witches.

"Should I apologize to Evans?" James asked outright, managing to look completely unconcerned with the entire matter. But Sirius knew that James wouldn't have bothered calling had it not been something important.

"Dunno, mate," Sirius replied, glancing around the pub for signs of his relatives; he had not told any of his friends about this meeting. "That bird isn't known to forgive you, is she? Maybe you should just avoid her until it all blows over."

James frowned slightly. "But—"

"Sorry, mate, my date's here," lied Sirius quickly when he spotted Regulus making his way toward the table. "I'll see you later—moon rises at eight."

With a curt nod, James was gone, and Sirius just had time to shove the mirror back into his pocket before his brother reached him.

The younger Black looked very much like the older, with the family's grey eyes and regal features. His demeanor, however, lacked the confidence the Sirius so easily possessed, and he sat down across from him with a suspicious glance around the room.

"What do you suppose Bellatrix wants?" asked Regulus, avoiding his brother's eyes as he continued to scan the pub for their cousin. "Mother told me to—"

"Stay away from her?" Sirius finished for him, casually leaning his chair back on two legs. "I know. But Mummy-dearest is full of bullshit."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course," said Sirius dryly. "After only fifteen years of living with the woman, I really have no room to judge."

Regulus glared across the table. "Mother knows more about what's going on out there than you do, it doesn't matter what you say. She's in contact with all sorts of—"

_Shady, close-minded, Pureblood supremacists? _Sirius mentally supplied, rolling his eyes.

"—people who know Voldemort personally, or know people that know him. She can get us into contact with them. We can join the movement."

Before Sirius had a chance to tell Regulus to shove it, Bellatrix appeared with three butterbeers floating in front of her. The brothers took the drinks and waited for their cousin to speak.

She took her time casting a _Muffliato_ around the table before leaning table toward them with a serious look in her eyes. "I assume I can trust you both?"

Regulus gave Sirius a suspicious look, but nodded hesitantly. Sirius merely raised his eyebrows for Bellatrix to continue.

"I know that your mother warned you to stay away from me," she began after a moment of studying the boys. "But it's a precaution you needn't worry about."

"She says you'll try to stop us from joining the Dark Lord."

"And is that your plan, Regulus? To join the Dark Lord?"

The fourth-year narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Don't be a fool," Bellatrix spat. "If that's your pathetic excuse for secrecy then the Dark Lord would never take you anyway."

"What do you know about it?"

"More than you, certainly."

"What's that's supposed to mean?"

Sirius sat watching the exchange with an annoyed expression on his face. After another moment of getting nowhere, he held up a hand to silence them. "Look, I know how much we all love quality time as a family, but can we get to the point here?"

"_The point,_" said Bellatrix, "is that I'm here to recruit you."

The brothers simultaneously choked on their butterbeer. Sirius managed to hide it; Regulus was less successful.

"What are you talking about?" he coughed, slamming his mug on the table.

"Don't be stupid," sneered Bellatrix, and Sirius could tell that her annoyance was beginning to get in the way of her better judgment. "Do you honestly thing that I could settle for a life here? Wasting away teaching a bunch of useless Mudblood brats? No! The Dark Lord has trusted me—me, above all others!—to be positioned here and flesh out new recruits."

Sirius was unsure how to react to this new information, but he knew that giving away his disgust with his cousin would only lead to trouble. He thought, perhaps, that he could be of use to the Ministry—or whoever it was that was against Voldemort—by going along with Bellatrix's idea to recruit him. It would be dangerous, he knew, but his life could use a little intrigue.

"Where's your mark, then?" demanded Regulus, and there was excitement behind the skepticism in his eyes.

"D'you think Dumbledore would've hired her if she came in with the mark of a Muggle hater on her arm?" Sirius asked, becoming annoyed with his brother's idiocy.

"Precisely," agreed Bellatrix, brushing a strand of black hair from her face. "I'll receive my mark once my work here is completed, until then, I expect you to keep this information between the three of us."

Regulus crossed his arms over his chest. "And what's in it for us?"

"Training," the witch replied. "The Dark Lord wishes to have his recruits at Hogwarts prepared for work once they are of age. I will be having training sessions at night under the guise of Remedial Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"So…we do this training and we're in?"

"Not necessarily. You'll have to prove your worth, of course. Though I'm sure that won't be an issue."

Sirius, who had remained mostly silent throughout the exchange, took a sip of his butterbeer. He knew what Bellatrix's training would entail, and he knew that 'proving his worth' would likely be the torture of a Muggleborn. However, if he played along, he could gain valuable information that he could pass along to someone who could do something about it.

"Who have you recruited?" asked Sirius.

"Not many," said the eldest of the cousins. "I've spoken with Evan, obviously, and—"

"Evan Rosier? As in your cousin?"

"Yes, Regulus," said Bellatrix, an annoyed look on her face. "And Lucius told me to speak to Walden McNair. Constance will be involved, certainly, being Lucius' cousin, but I haven't told her any of this yet."

"I'm in," Regulus decided. "And I'm sure mother will be pleased to know—"

"You're to tell her nothing!" Bellatrix hissed. "This is a matter of utmost secrecy between the Dark Lord and a chosen few. Your mother will not hear anything about this until I've left Hogwarts for good."

"But—"

"Just shut up, Reg," Sirius snapped. He turned to Bellatrix. "I'm in too. Let me know when we're to start, yeah?"

"Excellent," said Bellatrix, a wicked gleam in her heavy-lidded eyes. As the three Blacks stood to leave, she grabbed Regulus by the arm and yanked him toward her. "Breathe a word of this to anyone and I will personally see you murdered."

The whisper sent a chill through Sirius' spine and he made his way out of the pub as quickly as he could.

(Turn To Stone)

FLASH!

"Edgar—how to you predict this trial to—"

"What's your opinion on—"

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

"Do you have a bad feeling about—"

FLASH!

"Who do you think should replace—"

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

Edgar wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and cover his ears and hum loudly to try to block out the countless reporters that swarmed around him as he made his way through the Atrium of the Ministry building.

Of course, that was the last thing that he _should_ do, so instead, he did his best to square his shoulders and push through them.

But the reporters were not the worst part. About fifty witches and wizards were gathered in the center of the Atrium all dressed in blue with pins that displayed the overly-serious face of Bartemius Crouch. One witch with thin, rectangular glasses and short red hair stood on the Fountain of Magical Brethren, yelling something about the numerous dark wizards that Crouch had imprisoned.

"Crouch for Minister!" she exclaimed at the end of her speech, and those with her took up the chant.

"It's all rather awful, isn't it?" a female voice asked from beside him and Edgar turned to see a young witch in the purple robes Ministry interns wore.

"They've been here all day," she continued. "Most of yesterday as well. It's giving me a headache to be perfectly honest."

Edgar took in her unfamiliar face—coppery brown eyes and curly hair of the same color. Her skin was a few shades lighter than her hair and she had small, perfectly straight teeth. "I'm sorry, but who are—"

"Oh, of course," she said, holding out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Claire O'Leary. Your dad asked me to show you to the courtroom."

He shook her hand, nodding. "I'm Edgar…but I suppose you must already know that."

"You _have_ been all over the papers as of late," Claire replied, leading him through the crowd toward the lifts at the end of the Atrium. "I'd have to be completely thick not to."

FLASH! FLASH!

"Damn," she swore as two reporters from _Witch Weekly_ stepped directly in front of them, clicking away at their cameras.

"Edgar, what—" one of them began, but Claire pulled out her wand threateningly.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but Mr. Bones has better things to do right now than talk with you lot. So if you'll excuse us, we're late."

The reporters gave them a disappointed look, but heeded the warning and got out of the way.

"Sorry about that," said Claire as the two of them climbed into an empty lift. "It's been a long day. Well, a long week, really."

"Tell me about it," Edgar agreed, leaning against the wall and finally able to breathe a bit more freely.

They waited in silence as the lift descended, and Edgar felt a knot of dread growing in his stomach. He was going to have to speak in front of the entire Wizengamot on behalf of his father. He knew what he wanted to say, but he was going to have to say it in a way that people would listen to him. He was just a fifteen year old kid.

"_Level Nine: the Department of Mysteries_," the cool female voice said overhead, and Claire motioned for him to get off.

"This is it," she said needlessly, for the moment the door clanked open, Edgar found himself face-to-face with another twenty or so members of the press. They lined the walls of the corridor with flashing cameras and quills poised at the ready.

"Edgar! How long have you know about—"

FLASH! FLASH!

"What are you—"

FLASH!

"What's your opinion on—"

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

"Come on," Claire said, though Edgar could barely hear her over the noise of the reporters. She grabbed his arm and dragged him through the crowd until they reached a point where the corridor broke off to the left. A large wizard with a goatee stood in their way, arms crossed and a bored look on his face.

"This is as far as I go," she told him, letting go and nodding to the larger wizard. "And don't mind Mitch, here. He's a big softy."

Before Edgar could thank her, Claire was gone, disappearing into the crowd. He sighed and continued down the hall that Mitch gestured him toward.

"All the way to the end," the large wizard informed him. "You'll know it when you get there."

Edgar nodded and followed the corridor, relishing the brief moment alone. He glanced at this watch—12:04. Amelia and his mother would be arriving soon, so instead of opening the door to the courtroom, he slid down the wall and sat facing it, waiting for his family. He wasn't sure if he could do this without them.

(Butterflies)

Lily did the best she could to move through the crowds on High Street whilst still searching for Mary, but finding the short brunette was proving quite impossible. She was on the verge of climbing atop Honeydukes when she ran into something tall and firm.

"Oof!"

Hands on her arms kept her from falling backwards, for which Lily was grateful.

"I'm sorry," the boy she had run into said, "I wasn't—Lily?"

After regaining her composure, Lily looked up and found herself face-to-face with Spencer McKinnon. A blush crept into her cheeks that she could see mirrored on his own.

"Hi, Spencer," she said with a small smile. "That was my fault, I'm sorry. I was just looking for Mary and I guess I forgot to watch where I was going."

"No harm done," Spencer chuckled.

Lily felt butterflies in her stomach. Mary had told her that Spencer fancied her, and though she had yet to hear it from him personally, she couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to be with him. He was sweet and gentlemanly and pretty easy on the eyes. This could be her chance to have a good relationship.

"So, Lily, I was wondering if you'd like to get a butterbeer with me?"

Lily smiled, but before she could answer, she heard a very unwelcome voice.

"Evans! Hey, Evans!"

Lily turned around to see James pushing his way through the crowd toward her.

"Not now, Potter," she told him once he reached her. "I realize that you think that everyone else's lives revolve around you, but that's really not the case."

James' eyes flashed between her and Spencer, comprehension dawning. "That's brilliant and all," he said nonchalantly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her toward an empty alley, "but this is sort of important."

"I don't care, Potter," she told him, attempting to pull her arm away. James had the upper hand. "Let go of me."

"Not until you hear me out."

"Potter, if you don't mind," said Spencer, stepping in front of James, "Lily and I were having a conversation."

James quirked an eyebrow behind his glasses and used his free hand to tussle his hair. "This'll only take a moment, McKinnon, then she's all yours." He leaned closer to Spencer, and said in a stage-whisper, "but Evans? Really? I fell like you could do better. Honestly, I know a few birds who would love—"

"Enough, Potter," Lily cut him off, and he turned back to her grinning. She looked at Spencer. "I'm really sorry, but can you give a minute?"

Spencer sent a glare at James before nodding, shoving his hands in his pockets, and heading back up High Street.

Yanking her arm free at last, Lily put her hands on her hips and looked at James expectantly. "All right, now you've gone and ruined a perfectly good moment, which I assume was your intention. Now _what _is so important?"

(In Which James Is Hexed)

James ran a hand through his hair and then put them both in his pockets. Lily was looking at him impatiently, her eyebrows raised and her jaw set. But now that he had her attention, he wasn't quite sure what to say. _ 'I'm sorry I defaced you in a magazine article, but I really didn't say any of that,' _sounded a bit crass, but apologies weren't his thing to begin with.

"I'm going to tell you something, and you have to swear not to hex me for it," he began, and Lily's eyebrows climbed higher.

"Excuse me? The fact that you're telling me not to hex probably means that I'll have good reason too."

"Which is why I'm saying not to. Just hear me out."

"No promises."

James felt the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile, but repressed it immediately. "You and I can agree that the press likes to…bend the truth, yes?"

"What are you talking about, Potter?"

"Don't get your wand in a knot just yet, Evans," he retorted. "We haven't even gotten to the good part. It's a simple question: do magazines and newspapers lie to tell a better story?"

Lily pressed her lips together, searching his face. James knew that she was looking for something that would make his statement make sense, but she wasn't going to find it until he was ready for her too.

"I suppose so," she answered at length. "I would like to think otherwise, but I know you can't trust everything you read. What is this about? Is it something to do with Minister Bones?"

"No," James told her, shaking his head. "It's about an article in _The Trendy Witch_."

"Okay…" replied Lily, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "But—"

"Well, well," came a third voice from the entrance to the alley. "Potter and Evans. I hope you're planning an excellent hex for him, after all those nasty things he said about you."

James rolled his eyes. "It's none of your business, Constance, why don't you get back to drowning kittens or whatever it is you do."

Constance Malfoy gave him a fake hurt look, but there was a gleam in her eyes as she turned to Lily, pulling a magazine from her purse. "Don't tell me you haven't read it yet, Evans. It's all anyone was talking about at lunch today."

"What?" asked Lily, looking between Constance and James, and James knew that his apology was about to fall apart.

"The interview that Rita Skeeter did with James," Constance told her, flipping the magazine open and handing it to Lily. "It's really quite awful."

"Evans, wait," James started, making to grab for the magazine. "I was about to explain—"

"_She really has no redeeming qualities,_" Lily read aloud, her voice becoming high-pitched in anger. "_I just haven't been able to set her right because I feel bad for her. Blokes never really fancy her—_Potter what the hell is this?"

James let out a frustrated sigh, hating the way Constance's face twisted into a satisfied smile. "I was trying to tell you before, I didn't say that—any of it. That Skeeter woman just wrote whatever she wanted."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Lily asked incredulously. "What could Rita Skeeter possibly have against me? I've never met the woman! _You_, on the other hand, seem to have a great deal against me if the last four years are anything to show for it!"

"It's not that I have anything against you," James told her, raising his voice to match her volume. "So I pick on you, big deal! I'm not going to go out and intentionally do something this cruel."

Lily's eyebrows were up again, and James knew that her hands, currently planted on her hips, were itching to grab her wand. "_Really?_ Is that so? What about the time you put fireworks in my Sleeping Solution during Potions? Or the time you told Fabian Prewett that I don't cut my toenails when you _knew_ that I fancied him? Or when you had Peeves steal my clothes while I was in the bath? Or—"

"All right, all right," he spoke over her, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought. "Maybe I did do all of those things, but—"

"But _what_ exactly?"

"But I didn't tell that reporter any of the things she said I did."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because I'm telling the truth."

"But you can't prove it."

"I know."

Lily glared at him. "I don't believe you."

"Fine," said James, shrugging his shoulders and running a hand through his hair. "I don't need you to. I only thought I'd try to do something nice for once."

"No, you only thought you'd try to get out of getting hexed."

"Think what you like."

"You know what I like?" asked Lily, and James was wary of the smile spreading across her face. "_Fodio!_"

The stinging jinx hit him full in the face, and James could feel his features swelling beneath his glasses. Lily turned on her heel to leave, Constance giggling madly behind her.

"_Damn it, Evans_!" he yelled after her, but she pretended not to hear him.

(With All Your Power)

The courtroom was packed. Looking around, Edgar saw many faces that he recognized from the parties his mother often threw for his father's employees—and a good number of them had Bartemius Crouch pins shining on the front of their robes.

A witch in plum-colored robes was reading some sort of introduction to the case, but Edgar hardly paid her any attention. He was too focused on the harsh wooden chair in the center of the room. The chains would not be used on his father, but the fact that Jethro Bones would have to sit there alone in front of so many people that he had trusted over the years—it made Edgar want to throw up.

"…And now, Chief Warlock and primary Interrogator: Dunstan Umbridge."

Everyone in the room stood respectfully as a short man whose entire body appeared to be of equal width entered the room and took his seat on the highest bench next to the Wizengamot. Had circumstances been otherwise, Edgar would have laughed at how much the man resembled a toad, but that seemed wildly inappropriate at present.

"If the accused would enter," Umbridge began, and another set of doors opened to reveal Minister Bones. His graying blonde hair was slicked back, his robes were neat, and he was clean-shaven, but he looked older and wearier than Edgar had ever seen him. "Have a seat."

Jethro Bones walked forward and sat in the chair in the center of the room. The chains rattled, but did not spring to life and bind him there.

"Trial by the Wizengamot," Umbridge continued, "on the twentieth of September, on the charges of misconduct as Minister for Magic, and inability to serve in said position by Jethro Charles Bones, current Minister for Magic, Head of the International Confederation of Wizards, and active Hit-Wizard Trainer."

There was a brief pause in which the scribe's quill could be heard scratching from the end of the bench.

"Interrogators: Dunstan Walter Umbridge, Chief Warlock; Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Aurors, will be taking the place of Bartemius Crouch, due to a conflict of interest on Crouch's part; Griselda Lynn Marchbanks, Head of Interrogation; Edward James Stratton, Court Scribe. Witnesses for the Defense: Jethro Charles Bones, Minister for Magic; Ester Karen Fern, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister; Amelia Susan Bones, Ministry Intern and Daughter of the Accused; Edgar Alan Bones, Underage and Son of the Accused."

Edgar's heartbeat sped up at the mention of his name. He would be speaking last; his words would be fresh in the minds of the Wizengamot while they made their final decision.

Umbridge wasted no time. He stared down at Edgar's father with a look of distaste and said, "You are Jethro Charles Bones, correct?"

"Correct," answered the Minister, his voice calm.

"You committed adultery with actress Antonia Amper last year, did you not?"

"The press seemed to believe that I did."

"And you smoothed over the allegations with bribery, yes?"

"That particular accusation is false."

"I see," Umbridge said, though he clearly thought that the Minister was lying. "But you committed adultery again mere weeks ago, correct?"

"Correct."

"With one Elizabeth Lillian Dee, your family's maid?"

"Yes."

"You don't regret your actions?" asked Griselda Marchbanks, an aging witch with glasses and a stooped frame.

The Minister looked at her for a moment, and Edgar could tell that he was unsure what to say now that the trial had moved beyond the hard facts of the event. Edgar glanced at his mother. Her mouth was in a thin line, but she wouldn't cry, not now. She would be strong for her husband, even though he had been unfaithful, and Edgar did not know whether he was proud of her strength, or ashamed that she was too weak to stand up for herself.

"I love my wife," Jethro Bones told the court, but he did not look at his family. "I regret that I have put her through this."

"So you regret getting caught," Rufus Scrimgeour commented, "not the action itself."

"Minister, you are making it difficult to pity you," said Umbridge, though he did not look sorry about this.

Jethro Bones raised an eyebrow. "I have no need for your pity, Chief Warlock. I am here for the court to determine my fitness to retain my position as Minister. If you pity me, that would make me less fit than if you think me heartless."

Some of the members of the Wizengamot turned to each other, murmuring amongst themselves. A few seemed to think the Minister had a point, and Edgar smiled just slightly.

(In Which Lily Rants)

Lily had completely forgotten about Spencer McKinnon. Truthfully, she had forgotten just about everything except for the article and James' pathetic excuse for…what? An apology? It wasn't even that. It was just an attempt for him to try to save his own neck. It was _so_ James Potter, and Lily was furious.

She had gone straight back to the castle after hexing James, but she still felt as though everyone she passed was pointing and talking about her. Ridiculous, she knew, since the magazine had only been delivered that morning, but gossip spread through Hogwarts like wildfire.

By the time she reached the Gryffindor common room, the witch was so wound up she could not decide what to do with herself. She paced back and forth, completely ignoring Marlene and her friends, who sat near the wireless, and nearly cursing a poor third year who came in that happened to resemble James in coloring and stature.

_That conceited, arrogant, stupid asshole!_ She fumed, half to herself and half aloud. _All he ever does is make other people look bad for his own benefit. What is his problem? When is he going to grow up? _"Ugh!"

She threw herself face-first onto one of the sofas by the fireplace, wishing to simply take on the pattern of the fabric and disappear from society. Of course, it was simply not her day.

"Um, Lily?"

"Hrmpf."

"Lily, are you all right?"

"Mmph ffmer."

"Um…what?"

"I said," Lily repeated, sitting up and pushing the hair out of her face. "I'm _fine._"

"You don't look fine." It was Caden Fenwick, a friend of Marlene, that stood beside the couch on which Lily sat. She looked concerned.

"It's nothing," said Lily, but even she heard the crazed edge in her voice. "Ignore my incoherent ranting."

Caden crossed her arms and gave Lily a skeptical look just as the portrait hole opened and a flustered Mary Macdonald climbed through, followed by Alice and Vanessa.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," the redhead groaned, falling back onto the couch and pressing a pillow over her face.

"Lily!" Alice exclaimed, and Lily could feel the air stir as the blonde rushed to her side. "Lily, I cannot _believe_ my mother let this happen! I've already sent her a very angry letter telling her that she has to recall the magazine at once and fire that awful Rita Skeeter woman. I don't know what she was thinking, publishing an article like that when she knows that you're my best friend—of course, she shouldn't publish something like that about anyone but—"

"James shouldn't have _said_ something like that about anyone," Vanessa interjected. "I know he can be rude at times, but what he said was just—"

"I_ told_ you," Mary interrupted, "he didn't say any of that!"

Vanessa scoffed, "You only believed him because you think he's good looking!"

"_What?_ That's ridiculous! Lily's my friend—I wouldn't side with James over her. But I believed him because he was telling the truth!"

"Bullshit! You—"

"STOP IT!"

Even Lily sat back up and removed the pillow from her face when Caden yelled. The four older girls stared at the fourth-year, whose chocolate colored cheeks were tinged pink.

"Just stop," she insisted again. "And someone explain what is going on."

Mary and Vanessa each took a deep breath to calm down, Lily ran a hand through her hair, and Alice plopped down beside the latter.

"What's all the yelling about?"

This, from Marlene, as she left the wireless and came to sit with the other girls.

"Just typical James Potter problems," answered Lily, rubbing her forehead in aggravation.

"He said," Vanessa explained, "or perhaps _didn't_ say, some awful things about Lily. And an article was written about it by a woman named Rita Skeeter and published in Alice's mum's magazine."

"So," continued Mary, "I spoke with James and told him that he had best apologize right away, before Lily saw the article for herself. But Lily didn't believe that he didn't say those things."

"So I hit him in the face with a Stinging Jinx," Lily concluded, feeling altogether miserable about the whole situation.

"Oh, Lily," said Caden, taking a seat on the side of Lily not occupied by Alice and putting her arm around the redhead. "What did he say in the article?"

"Something about me having no redeeming qualities, and being high-and-mighty, and boys never fancying me."

"That's rubbish," said Marlene adamantly.

"And there was something about the only way for Potter to fancy me is if I was using a love potion on him. Which, he _doesn't_ fancy me. But Rita made it seem like he did, so now all those girls who faun after Potter are going to be at my throat about the whole thing. And Severus is going to be furious when he hears. And of course Constance Malfoy is going to make a bigger deal of it that it already is. And—"

"Lily," Alice began, taking the redhead's shoulders and forcing her to look her in the eye. "It's going to be fine. The people that matter to you know that it's rubbish, and the people that believe this article shouldn't matter to you to begin with."

"What about the teachers, though? Slughorn and McGonagall? And _Dumbledore_? What if they think I'm some silly, love-struck witch and that I'm not capable of being a Prefect because my mind is too focused on boys? And love potions are forbidden at school! I could get in serious trouble and I didn't even do anything!"

"Just stop freaking out," Alice told her, though the blonde looked apprehensive herself. "If it really becomes an issue, I'm sure there's some sort of test they can do to determine is James is being enchanted. As for you being silly and love struck…they wouldn't think that. You're marks are fantastic, and the teachers have you in class. They can see that you're a good student and a good Prefect."

"Anyone who thinks you fancy James Potter would have to be completely mental anyway," said Vanessa with a small smile.

"You're right," said Lily. "Of course you're right."

But she did not really feel as though they were right. Everything they told her was fact, but it still hurt to know that James Potter had told a complete stranger such horrid things about her. She and James weren't friends. She didn't know his favorite color or what he was afraid of. She'd never had a real conversation with him, not really. But they'd known each other for over four years, and she expected a little more from him, to be honest. She certainly would never have told Rita Skeeter such things, had the roles been reversed.

"And besides, you know how these things go," Mary said comfortingly. "No one will even remember it in a week or so."

Lily nodded, knowing that this, at the very least, was true. "I still wish I'd hit Potter with something stronger."

The other girls laughed and Caden patted Lily on the knee. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to do that. But for now, you should go get ready for Slughorn's party! I hear David Hunt is going to be there. You'll want to look especially sexy tonight."

"Who's David Hunt?" asked Alice and Marlene simultaneously.

Mary looked at them as if they had desecrated something sacred. "_Who's David Hunt? Who's David Hunt?_ Only the most perfect human being on the planet!"

"He's a Chaser for Puddlemore United," explained Vanessa with a bit more control than Mary. "And his _is_ particularly good looking."

"Oh," said Alice, quirking an eyebrow and smirking. "Well, I suppose I'll be going to that party after all. I wasn't planning on it, but now…"

"Oh no you don't," joked Lily. "David Hunt is _mine_."

"Wanna bet?"

"Yeah I do!"

They all laughed again, and Lily was in a much better mood by the time they dispersed. She, Alice, Mary, and Vanessa headed back up to their dormitory, while Caden and Marlene returned to the wireless.

_Who cares what James Potter says anyway? _thought Lily, _he's just a dumb guy._

But in spite of herself, and in spite of what she told the others, a part of her _did _care, and try as she might, she could not change the fact that she felt somewhat betrayed.

(Green)

"_You are Amelia Susan Bones? Daughter of Jethro and Lenore Bones?"_

"_Yes."_

"_You are aware that your father has pled guilty to the charge of adultery?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And you still believe your father to be the most capable man for the position of Minister for Magic?"_

"_I wouldn't be here if I didn't."_

The trial was playing over the wireless in the Gryffindor Common Room, and Marlene, having taken a break to listen to Lily's story, was once more listening intently to the goings-on at the Ministry.

"I feel sort of bad for Edgar," said Caden, pushing a strand of dark hair from her face.

Caden was one of Marlene's closest friends, seeing as they were in the same year, but Marlene had always been jealous of the other girl. Her dark complexion was flawless, her eyes gorgeous without any makeup. She played Quidditch, which the boys all admired, and her laugh was to die for.

Of course, Marlene was jealous of most people. Even while listening to Lily, Alice, Vanessa, and Mary speak, Marlene was able to find things about each of them that she wished she herself possessed. But she had learned to keep such envy hidden. She hated feeling inferior to her friends, but it was even worse when they knew she felt that way.

"Me too," Marlene said in response. She had told no one but Lily about her conversation with Edgar days earlier. Caden had no idea that Marlene had ever spoken to him.

"Well," said Caden, standing up, "I'm going to go fly a bit before I start that Potions essay. Care to join me?"

Marlene shook her head. "I don't care much for flying, Cay, you know that."

Caden shrugged. "All right, then. See you."

"See you."

But Marlene had no intention of listening to the rest of Amelia Bones' speech. As soon as Caden climbed through the portrait hole, Marlene ran up to her dormitory, grabbed her purse, brushed her teeth, and left the common room as well. Her destination: Professor McGonagall's office. She was going to be there for Edgar whether he wanted her there or not.

(Meanwhile, In the Hospital Wing)

"_Merlin's saggy left_—"

"Mr. Potter!"

"What? You think this feels good?"

Remus snorted in laughter and James would have turned to glare at him had he been able to move his head. Lily's Stinging Jinx had spread down his neck and torso, causing his whole body to swell.

The two boys were in the Hospital Wing. Remus sat on one of the beds, occasionally throwing up into a waste bin. He was pale and sweaty, seeing as the full moon would be rising in a few hours, but his mood had lifted tremendously when a second-year had had to lead James into the infirmary because his eyes had swelled shut.

Madam Pomfrey was poking and prodding James all over, and James would swear that she was only doing it to annoy him. It was obvious what was wrong with him. Of course, he really couldn't blame her. He had annoyed her his fair share in the past.

"Would you quit?" he snapped at last, blindly swatting her hands away, causing Remus to chuckle. With the accuracy only a Chaser could have, James picked up his wand and threw it at his friend, whom he knew was somewhere to his left.

"Ow!"

"Ha!" James exclaimed.

"You really should have thought that one through, James," Remus told him. "Now I have your wand _and _you can't see. You really should have just hexed me."

"Shut up."

"Sit _still_, Mr. Potter."

"All right, all right."

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" asked Remus.

James sighed. "I told you about that reporter asking me for an interview, didn't I?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, her article was published in a magazine that was sent out today, but the stuff in the article wasn't anything that I said. It was complete rubbish. It was more about Evans than it was about me!"

"Lily? What does she have to do with it?"

"I guess the reporter saw Evans and I talking and she thought Evans was my girlfriend. I set her straight, but in the article, she made it sound like Lily's been giving me a love potion, but that at the same time, I think she's got no redeeming qualities and that I only pretend to fancy her to make her feel better about herself. It really doesn't make much sense, but—"

"Drink this, Potter," Madam Pomfrey interrupted, putting a cup in James hands. "I know you hate orange-flavored things, but the orange is necessary in this particular potion."

James braced himself and downed it, and almost immediately began to feel the swelling decrease. After a moment, he could see again. "Where are my—"

"Glasses?" Madam Pomfrey finished for him, holding them out to him.

"Right, thanks."

She nodded. "Don't stay too long. Mr. Lupin needs rest." With that, she returned to her office and shut the door, giving the boys some privacy.

"Okay, wait," said Remus, as James turned around to face him. "One thing at a time. You told a reporter that Lily is feeding you a love potion?"

"_No._ I told the reporter that I'm not dating Lily and that we don't really get along. That's it."

"Okay, and she _said_ that Lily's giving you a love potion—which isn't true—because Lily fancies you?"

"Yes."

"But Lily doesn't fancy you."

"Correct."

"But the reporter said that you pretend to fancy Lily because you feel bad for her?"

"Because no bloke would ever like her, yeah."

"But that's ridiculous!"

"I know!"

"_You'd_ be lucky if Lily Evans fancied you, not the other way around."

"Right—hey!"

Remus grinned and his eyes looked less sad and tired than they had moments before.

"Whatever mate," said James. "I am a perfect human being. Evans is fortunate that she is even allowed in my presence!"

"Then you'd think she'd have said yes one of the hundreds of times you've asked her out."

"It hasn't been _hundreds,_ Lupin. It's been eighty-eight, for you information. And I'm _joking_. She knows it, I know it, it's not like she's actually refusing me because I'm not actually asking her out."

"It's a good thing you're only joking, then, because if you were serious, she'd have done some major damage to your ego by now."

"Oi, you're supposed to be on my side."

Remus shrugged. "But a good friend wouldn't lie to you."

"Then I want a rubbish friend instead."

"Go find Sirius."

The two boys laughed at that, until Remus started coughing and vomited into his waste bin.

And James realized that he was being stupid. So a reporter wrote that he said some nasty things about someone, so what? Here his best friend had to go through a painful transformation every month. He was shunned from society and might not ever be able to get a good job because of his condition and James was complaining about something in _The Trendy Witch_.

"Sorry, mate," he said, and Remus nodded, understanding.

But James smiled to himself because he knew that in a few hours, he, Sirius, and Peter would be joining Remus on the full moon for the first time. He had no idea what it would be like or what would happen to any of them, but he was ready to do whatever he could to help out one of his best friends.

"I should go," James said, tossing Remus a bar of Honeydukes Chocolate he'd picked up in Hogsmeade. "See you later."

"Don't have too much fun without me."

James grinned. "We'll see about that."

(Life is Life)

Edgar wanted to disappear. He wanted to sink into his chair and become part of the wood and not have to speak in front of all these people. Amelia had sounded so sure of herself when she had defended their father, but Edgar did not think he had that much faith. He didn't know if his father even should remain Minister. Edgar had no idea what to think of the matter. He knew that he was his job to say that his father was a good leader…but what if he wasn't?

Edgar usually did not question himself so much. He knew where he stood—especially when it came to the government, but he had heard so many reasons as to why Jethro Bones was unfit that he was just confused.

But what was he supposed to do? This was his _father._ Edgar couldn't simply look past that. It was impossible.

"You are Edgar Alan Bones, son of Jethro and Lenore Bones?" Umbridge asked in a rather bored voice. The Wizengamot had been in session for almost four hours, and everyone was ready for the day to end.

"Yes."

"And you're aware that your father pled guilty to adultery?"

"Yes."

Umbridge looked down at him as if he was not worth his time. "Do have anything of value to add then?"

Edgar's hands were shaking. He looked around at the fifty or so witches and wizards on the Wizengamot, at the group of reporters to his left, and finally at his family, who sat on his right. It was his _father_ these people were talking about, his father they were saying wasn't good enough. So it didn't really matter what Edgar thought, he didn't have to form an opinion, because he knew what he had to say.

"Just think about my father's political actions in the past few months. He's been smart about positioning Aurors to stop Death Eater attacks, and he's made the people of the Wizarding world feel safe in spite of what Voldemort and his followers have been doing. He hasn't let anyone blow it out of proportion. He's a good Minister, and he cares about the people and their mindset. Say you never knew about his personal life—would you still think he was an unfit Minister?"

"Finished?"

"I—"

"Good," Umbridge said loudly. "We'll adjourn for now. The Wizengamot's decision will be announced in the morning."

Edgar looked around. Everyone was standing and stretching, and he just sat there in the wooden chair in the center of the room, feeling as though he had made no difference.

"You did the best you could, Ed," Amelia said, appearing at his side and pulling him up. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Edgar ran a hand through his hair and followed the crowd streaming out of the court room and back up to the Atrium.

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

"This way," a voice said as soon as he stepped off the lift and was blinded by the press. Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him into what appeared to be an office. It was cool and quiet and Edgar was happy to be alone—or mostly alone.

"There's water and soup on the desk." It was Claire, looking tired. Her curly brown hair was frizzy and her robes seemed to be charred. "The press can be absolutely mental," she explained when she noticed him looking. "Eat. And there's someone here to see you."

She left, holding the door open for a shorter girl with red-brown hair.

"Marlene?"

"Hey," she said, giving him a sheepish smile. She walked over to the desk and pushed the soup aside, pulling bread, roast turkey, and a bottle of butterbeer from her bag. "I figured Hogwarts cooking would be better than whatever they're feeding you."

"What are you doing here?"

Marlene looked slightly hurt and Edgar rubbed his tired eyes. "I'm sorry," he told her. "That was rude. It's been a long day. Thank you for the food."

"It's okay," she said with a small smile. "I…I know we didn't get off on the right foot before, but, well, what I'm doing here is…" She paused, searching for words. She avoided Edgar's gaze as she spoke, looking instead at her shifting feet. "I'd just…I'd quite like to be your friend. And I told McGonagall that you and I are friends so that she'd let me come and see you. And...I dunno…I guess I just thought you might need someone to talk to."

Edgar watched for a moment in silence until she was forced to look up at him. He knew her type. He'd known her type his whole life. She'd read about him more than she'd talked to him. She probably had some sort of mental image of him in which he was perfect and would be perfect for her. But he wasn't. And he knew he was going to disappoint her no matter what he said.

He sighed. "All right then, friends," he held out his hand for her to shake. "But only if you swear to forget everything you've ever read about me."

"But I've never read anything bad about you."

"Exactly."

"I don't understand."

"And I don't expect you to."

"But—"

"Just trust me."

Marlene's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, but she nodded. "Fine. Shall we eat?"

"Merlin yes, I'm famished."

They sat on the desk, eating in silence. Then, Edgar began to speak, more to himself than to Marlene.

"I really messed up today. I had it all planned out—everything I wanted to say. And I just…choked or something. I started questioning myself and then when it came time for me to speak, I didn't say anything that made any difference. I let Umbridge cut me off. There was no point in me being here."

Marlene was quiet for a moment more. "I bet it made a difference to your dad. And…you have more right than anyone to hate him for what he did. The fact that you even showed up proves to the Wizengamot that your dad must be pretty special."

Edgar didn't look at her, but rather stared straight ahead, downing his pumpkin juice in one gulp. "I wish I hated him. It'd be easier than being confused."

"I wish I knew what to say."

Edgar smiled a bit and ran a hand through his hair. "Showing up's enough."

(I Solemnly Swear)

"James…James! Oi! POTTER!"

James jumped as Sirius' face suddenly appeared directly in front of his own.

"Stop staring at Evans for a moment and listen to me."

"I wasn't staring at Evans," James told him with a scowl, taking a last glance to where Lily seemed to be apologizing profusely to Spencer McKinnon.

"McKinnon then?" asked Sirius, openly looking at the pair across the common room. "I didn't think he was your type."

"James' type is anything with legs," Peter added, joining the pair and putting a folded piece of parchment on the table between them.

"Then you'd best get your legs removed, Pete," retorted James, pulling out his wand and twirling it between his fingers. "So what were you trying to tell me?"

Sirius grinned. "I got the map working."

"You did not," said Peter, rolling his eyes. "_I _got the map working using that spell the bloke at Zonko's gave us this morning."

"_Working_ working?"

"Well, Borris Bobbins still has a habit of disappearing at random and I can't figure out how to makes dots for the ghosts that work properly, but yeah, _working_working."

"Brilliant," James whispered, looking around to make sure no one was watching them. "Let's see it."

Peter pulled out his own wand and tapped the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Black ink spiderwebbed across the page, sketching an outline of the school and the grounds. All over, tiny labeled dots were moving. James caught site of two, Remus Lupin and Poppy Pomfrey, moving toward the Whomping Willow. Lily Evans and Spencer McKinnon's dots were leaving the common room together (which caused an odd sensation in James' stomach), Vanessa Reese was heading to the library, and Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his office.

"_Brilliant_," James repeated, attempting to take it all in at once. "How did you manage it?"

"It's a load of technical rubbish that we don't have time for right now," said Sirius, pulling James and Peter out of their chairs and pushing them toward the portrait hole. "Trust me, I got an earful of it while you were in the hospital. For now, we should go. The moon'll be up soon."

It was so easy it was surreal, moving about the castle with the map to aid them. The three boys were too tall to be completely covered by James' old invisibility cloak, but for the first time, they did not have to be concerned about anyone noticing their feet wondering around of their own accord. They waited just inside the oak front doors and slipped out when Madam Pomfrey was on her way in.

"How did Remus say they got past this thing?" Peter asked as they reached the Whomping Willow. It had been planted specifically for the purpose of keeping anyone from finding Remus during the full moon.

"He said Madam Pomfrey hits a knot," James told them, slipping out from under the cloak and circling the tree at a safe distance. "But which one?"

"There have to be hundreds," Sirius commented as he hid the cloak and the map beneath a rock.

"Wait here," Peter told them. "I have an idea."

As soon as he said it, he was gone. A rat stood in his place for a moment before scurrying among the roots of the tree, unnoticed. He must have hit thirty knots before finding the right one.

"Excellent, Pete!" James called to the other boy as the tree froze on the spot. James and Sirius hurried toward the trunk and crawled through a gap in the roots. They came up in a low tunnel, lit only by the light from the setting sun. It was carved out of the earth and continued on beyond their vision. "Come on," James continued, taking Peter the rat and placing him on his shoulder. Then, he and Sirius stooped low and hurried along the tunnel.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever, and in the dim lighting of their wands, the boys could only see a few feet at a time.

"Next time I think I'd rather break into the Shrieking Shack from Hogsmeade," Sirius commented after walking for nearly twenty minutes.

"Shh," James whispered, because just then the path began to rise and there was a faint light up ahead. He checked his watch, 7:59. The moon would be up any second.

They all jumped as there was a horrible cracking noise above them. There was a groan and James winced. They had never experienced a werewolf transforming before; they knew it was painful, but James was listening to his friend's bones break and re-grow. He wanted to perform a Silencing Charm on the trapdoor above them, but he was not going to abandon Remus.

"All right," he said, jumping up and down and shaking out his arms and shoulders. (Peter squeaked indignantly). "Just like we planned. Ready, Black?"

Sirius grinned. "Born ready, Potter."

(Butterflies, Part Two)

"So this is what the Slug Club does, eh?" Spencer McKinnon asked as he and Lily entered the Potions Master's office. It had been transformed, as usual, into a much larger space, lit by glowing bubbles that pulsed between pink, blue, and gold. Small round tables were laden with refreshments on one side, while the other side comprised of a dance floor and an area where guests were mingling.

"Thrilling, isn't it?" joked Lily, smoothing out the simply blue dress and robes Alice had lent her for the occasion.

"Ah, Lily!" Slughorn greeted her, smiling jovially and shaking their hands. "And Mr. McKinnon! Were you on the list, dear boy?"

"Spencer's my plus one, Professor," Lily told him, and Slughorn seemed to warm up to him instantly.

"You're a lucky one, lad," he winked. "Enjoy the party. Oh, and Lily, I _must_ introduce you to Ambrosia. Lead singer of the Corrupted Pixies, you know. She was always such a wonderful student. Only left Hogwarts a few years ago."

"The sounds lovely, Professor," Lily told him with a smile. "Whenever she isn't busy is fine."

"Right-O, run along then. Oh! Quinn and Gideon! Wonderful to see you..."

"Come on," Lily said to Spencer, taking his arm and pulling him toward the food. "One thing that can definitely be said about these parties is that the food is _superb_."

Spencer laughed, pouring them each a goblet of something that smelled like honey and ginger. The pair leaned against the table then, sipping their drinks and watching those who had chosen to dance.

"He's a character, that Slughorn," Spencer commented as the Potions Master bustled between groups of people, making introductions and accepting gifts from past students.

"_Godric_, yes."

"He seems quite fond of you too." There was a playful light in his eyes. "You reckon if he were a bit younger…?"

"Ew!" said Lily, laughing in spite of herself. "_Gross._ Not in a million years."

"Dunno," he continued, a mock thoughtful look on his face. "Imagine if he was bit fitter. With more hair."

"Not for all the galleons in the world," she told him, then she smirked. "But I can't help but notice that you seem rather interested in him. Something I should know about you?"

Spencer laughed, which made Lily smile. "Looks like you've caught me, Lily. I only like older men. Preferably short fat ones that wear robes a size too small."

Just as the two burst into laughter, Constance Malfoy approached them. Her long white-blonde hair was curled perfectly and there was ice in her eyes.

"You seem strangely happy for someone who was so upset just this afternoon," she said, her voice sickly sweet, as always.

Lily's smile vanished and she rolled her eyes. "I refuse to let James Potter ruin a perfectly good evening, Constance," she told the other girl firmly. "And that goes for you as well. If you're only going to be negative, I think you should just leave me alone."

Constance examined her fingernails in a bored sort of way. "Actually, I'm supposed to tell you that Severus Snape wishes to speak with you. He was _most_ upset when I showed him the magazine today. He couldn't _believe_ you would stoop so low as to use a love potion on Potter, but I told him that the press doesn't lie. He's been looking everywhere for you."

Lily pressed her fingers to her temples, rubbing and thinking _don't hex her, don't hex her. It's not worth it._

"Sev isn't stupid, Constance. He's not going to actually think Rita Skeeter was telling the truth."

Constance shrugged. "Whatever you say, Evans."

She left and Lily ran a hand through her hair in worry. Sev _wasn't_ stupid. But when it came to James Potter, the Slytherin seemed to abandon reason.

"Don't listen to her," said Spencer. "She's probably just jealous that people in her own house like you better than her."

That caused Lily to smile. She stood up a little straighter and downed the rest of her drink. "You're right, Spencer. She's not worth the worry. And Sev can wait a few more hours; it's not going to kill him."

"That's the spirit. Care for a dance?"

And that was the second time that day he'd given her butterflies.

(The Stuff of Legend)

James was panting hard, stumbling over loose floorboards and broken furniture in the Shrieking Shack. He did not tire as quickly as a stag, but two straight hours of constant movement was certainly beginning to take its toll.

There was no real way to communicate with Sirius and Peter, they could only guess the other's thoughts and they guessed wrong many times.

Remus had lost it when Sirius had entered the Shack. James knew that Remus had never had anyone around him during full moon before, and his werewolf senses went into overdrive almost immediately. Sirius might not have survived had James not gone against the original plan and charged at Remus.

Now the two larger boys were taking turns distracting him, trying to acclimate Remus to their presence. Peter, who could be devoured in one bite, stayed safe on James' back.

The werewolf seemed to be getting tired as well, but he looked at James with a hatred the boy knew Remus was incapable of. Then, the werewolf ran at him, jaws open.

James tried to back up, but he wasn't quick enough and Remus slammed into him. Peter was thrown off and hit the wall; he slid down and did not get back up. Suddenly, a searing pain coursed through James' nerves as the werewolf's claws raked across his back. Black spots danced through his vision and James knew he was losing blood quickly. Remus raised his paw again, it was stained red, but before he could strike at James, a great black dog jumped on him, forcing him off James and onto his back.

Remus yelped in pain, and Sirius got off of him immediately, and even though he had a dog's face, James knew that he was worried.

There was a faint squeak near the wall and James looked to see Peter struggling to his feet. Remus noticed at exactly the same time, and the werewolf and stag lunged at the rat together.

James refused to let Remus get to Peter, but suddenly, the werewolf was gone completely. The stag hastily scooped Peter up with one antler and deposited him on his torn back, and looked around to see Sirius dragging Remus away by the leg. The werewolf whipped around, slashing Sirius from shoulder to neck. The dog gave a whimper and recoiled, but the wolf followed.

They had to get out.

James sprinted to the trap door and pawed at it, motioning for Peter to climb down and get it open. The rat scurried down his leg and James raced to Remus and Sirius, knocking the former aside as he did so.

The werewolf snarled, his teeth dripping with blood and spit, but James snorted as intimidating as he could in response. He could see Sirius get slowly to his feet, but he was limping badly.

A squeak from the center of the room indicated that Peter had managed to get the door open, and James motioned for Sirius to go first as the stag pushed Remus out of the room and into the hall. The werewolf lashed out at him, trying to get by, by James ducked and Remus tore a chunk from the wall instead. James considered pushing him down the stairs, but he had no idea how much damage would carry over when Remus became human again, so instead he forced him further down the hall until a bark from Sirius indicated that he and Peter were safe.

James gave Remus a final shove with his antlers and galloped full-out back into the room they had first come up in, he bolted through the trapdoor, and Sirius—back to human form—slammed it shut behind him.

Less than a second later, they heard the werewolf slam into the floor, slashing at the door and doing the best he could to get it open.

"Let's get out of here," Sirius said in a gruff voice. He picked Peter up in his left hand (his right arm appeared to be broken) and took off down the tunnel with James, who had also transformed back, close behind.

They said nothing until they had dragged themselves out from under the Whomping Willow. Peter turned back to human form and the three boys made their way to an old beech tree where they sat and began to heal some of their major wounds.

"Fuck," said James after a long silence.

"That's a pretty accurate summation of the last twenty-four hours, yeah," agreed Peter, attempting to stop the blood flowing from a cut on his forehead—no doubt from when Remus had slammed him into the wall.

James pulled his shirt over his head, wincing as the tattered material irritated the cuts on his back.

"_Fuck."_

* * *

**A/N: **I hope that wasn't too confusing and I hope you liked it! If you want to follow me on Tumblr, that's where I post update info, excerpts, the cast, playlists, etc. You can also ask questions there if you have any about the chapter or the story in general. There is a link on my profile. Thanks for reading!

**PLEASE REVIEW!** They are my life-force.

Love Always,

Kayla

_It's a very dangerous thing to do  
Exactly what you want,  
Because you cannot know yourself,  
Or what you'd really do  
With all your power._

— _Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, The Flaming Lips_


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